Export promotion councils want better promotion of Brand India

NEW DELHI: Export promotion councils ( EPCs) want better promotion of Brand India apart from increased incentives to boost exports.

In a meeting with commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman, 14 such EPCs sought more government support for “promotion of Brand India on a consistent basis.”

The meeting was part of the stock talking exercise by the commerce department in the wake of exports falling for more than year. This was the second such meeting with the Councils. The first one was held in February.

“It was general consensus that in terms of volumes, most of the commodities have shown resilience and have maintained the levels achieved in the previous fiscal 2014-15. However, keeping in view the various initiatives taken by the government recently and global factors, there was feeling that exports would increase,” said the department in a statement.

The government has already initiated Interest Equalisation Scheme and the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) to support declining exports.

“The scheme has taken off very well and the RBI is quickly moving money to the banks,” the minister said.

While many councils cited delay in environmental clearances as a hurdle in setting up manufacturing units, the minister asked them to be more pro-active on behalf of exporters.

In the previous meeting too, the councils had stated delays in environment clearance besides high energy and financial costs as issues concerning exports.