ExIm Policy to fix corpus for mkt access

new delhi: the exim policy will set up an annual corpus for greater market access of rs 600 crore as suggested by the expert committee, headed by p p prabhu. according to industry sources, some of the industries which are slated to benefit most from the exim policy include drugs and pharma, engineering, steel, cement, gems and jewellery, textiles, electronics hardware, leather and auto components. the proposal for the annual allocation for market access initiative was announced last year. however, the proposal was doused to only a token sum as planning commission had said that the scheme should be managed during the current fiscal(2001-02) within the approved outlay for the commerce department and the commission could consider “some additional allocation� at the time of working out supplementary grants. this had put paid to the original plan of allocating rs 300 crore for the scheme and, subsequently, the commerce department itself had indicated that a substantially lower figure would be acceptable. some of the industries which are expected to benefit this time include steel, cement, auto components, leather, textiles and garments, electronic hardware, engineering and drugs & pharma. in the drugs and pharma sector, some specific measures expected to be announced include streamlining of procedure for registration of drugs and molecules meant exclusively for export and probably also dispensing with drugs and pharma controls by different agencies where the declared constituents are permitted for exports. another area of focus will be the agro processing zones (apz) where the cluster approach will be encouraged as many divergent businesses in one zone are not conducive and complementary. moreover, service exports are also in for some sops. for the engineering industry, the benefits will encompass extension of depb rates in accordance with the expert committee recommendations.