Commerce Minister Anand Sharma to take stock of exporting sectors tomorrow

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the announcement of foreign trade policy, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma will tomorrow take stock of the exporting sectors with all stakeholders, including export promotion councils.

"The Minister will listen to the views of stakeholders on foreign trade policy (FTP). A meeting of the Board of Trade is also scheduled on June 1," an official said.

The FTP would be announced in the first week of June. Sharma has said that after the consultations, the government would intervene in sectors which require support in the wake of slowdown in the Western markets.

Chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council A Sakthivel said that the textiles sector, which provide employment to about 45 million people, need special focus as the sector is in turmoil since 2009.

"There is an urgent need to give 2 per cent interest subsidy to the sector. Infrastructural bottlenecks should also be removed to reduce transactions cost. We will raise these issues in tomorrow's meeting ," Sakthivel said.

In April , exports of gems and jewellery and readymade garments contracted by 25.7 per cent and 9.7 per cent to USD 2.6 billion and USD 1 billion, respectively.

In the last FTP, which was announced in October 2011, the government had extended export incentives worth Rs 1,700 crore.

The economic crisis in the US and Europe is hitting India's exports. Both these markets account for about one- third of country's total shipments.

The expansion in country's merchandise exports, which grew by as much as 82 per cent in July 2011, came down to 3.2 per cent in April, 2012, due to the demand slowdown in the western markets.