Government to blend Budget and Exim policy

NEW DELHI: The government is working on integrating the Budget and exim policies to boost exports from targeted sectors.

“We had discussions on Budget and exim policy proposals to see that both are well integrated and exports from targeted sectors get a boost,� commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath said after a two-hour meeting with finance minister P Chidambaram.

The meeting, ahead of the Union Budget, assumes significance, with Kamal Nath promising to take up exporters’ cause after detailed presentations made by export organisations like FIEO.

“Heads of export organisations had met me as well as the the finance minister. We have to see what leverage can be rightly provided to enable export growth,� he said. Several export incentives have revenue implications and there is always a tussle between the revenue department and commerce ministry over tax sops to exporters.

While the revenue department feels that tax exemptions are misused by exporters, the commerce ministry feels that without tax incentives, exporters will not be able to face global competition.

Mr Nath has indicated that the government will come out with a national foreign trade policy by July-end to take India’s exports to $150bn by ‘10. The idea is to have a common policy for trade in goods and services, which together account for about $85bn of exports.