Government announces sops for exporters

NEW DELHI: The government today announced additional incentives for exporters, hit hard by the global slowdown, that includes extension of two per cent interest subsidy for one more year till March 2014.

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma also decided to introduce a pilot scheme of two per cent interest subsidy for project exports through Exim Bank.

The Ministry has also decided to grant incentive on incremental exports that would be made during January-March 2013 over the base period January-March 2012.

"With these incentives, we will be able to give a push to exports in the last quarter of this fiscal. The objective is to stabilise the situation and move from negative territory to positive and keep the trade deficit in control," Sharma told reporters here.

Exports during April-November period this year contracted by 5.95 per cent to $189.2 billion.

Sharma said that it would be difficult to achieve the $360 billion export target for this fiscal.