Exim policy unlikely before elections

NEW DELHI: The government is unlikely to advance Exim Policy in the face of Lok Sabha elections but may come out with some procedural changes to provide relief to exporters ahead of Parliament session beginning on January 29 to pass Vote on Account.
Though the government had earlier contemplated a mini-exim policy on the lines of mini-Budget that gave away Rs 12,000 crore worth of excise and customs sops to industry and middle class, it appears now that the Exim Policy would be left to the new government for paucity of time, official sources told PTI.
Usually Exim Policy is presented by Commerce Minister on March 31 every year. This year apparently it will get delayed as the Lok Sabha elections was unlikely to be over by then.
A major procedural change which exporters had been demanding is extension of treatment of two licences as one under the Export Promotion Credit Guarantee scheme.
The government is also working out modalities for encouraging industrial clusters like Tirupur in Tamil Nadu and Moradabad in UP which have made sizeable contribution to exports.
The much-talked about Electronic Data Interchange which had run into some difficulties will soon be launched formally.