Industry hails removal of QRs on exports

new delhi:trade and industry on sunday welcomed the new exim policy, saying that the removal of quantitative restrictions on exports was a step in the right direction. "without removal of these restrictions, you cannot boost exports. the decision to remove qrs is in the right direction," secretary general of ficci amit mitra said here. on the transport assistance, he said the movement of produces from farms to processing units was important. mitra also welcomed the measrures announced in the policy for agriculture exports and special economic zones, which would be a deemd foreign territory. however, economist and secretary of the congress party''s economic cess jairam ramesh expressed apprehensions over the agri expo-zones, saying, "it is a bogus concept." "it is not going to automatically lead to increase in agri exports," ramesh said, adding that what were needed were cold storages, transportation, processing and standards. but he welcomed the removal of qrs and said it was a good step. citing the food processing industry, he said there was a need to dereserve small scale units for large scale processing units. but he cautioned the steps announced by commerce minister murasoli maran needed to be followed up. in a major initiative to boost export-led growth, the new five-year exim policy lifts all quantitative restrictions on exports, improves incentives for special economic zones and schemes like depb, advance licence, and epcg.