Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India's exports as well as imports are showing positive trends. He said, the exports are approaching the last year's levels, after making a sharp dip in April this year due to pandemic. The Minister was interacting with office-bearers of various Export Promotion Councils, EPCs. They discussed the issues concerning the country's global trade, ground level situation and problems being faced by the exporters.
Mr Goyal said, regarding imports, the positive thing is that the Capital Goods imports have not declined and the reduction in imports has been seen mainly in crude, gold and fertilizers. He said, the trade deficit is reducing drastically. Mr Goyal said, India's share in the global trade is improving due to our resilient supply chains and perseverance and hardwork of our exporters. The Minister also said that the government is trying to generate more reliable and better trade data so that the nation can do better planning and frame policies accordingly.
The Minister said that he was informed that 24 focus manufacturing sectors have been identified which have the potential to expand, scale-up operations, improve quality and lead enhancement of Indian share in global trade and value chain. These sectors have capacity to do import substitution and push exports. He said that India is being seen in the world as a trusted and resilient partner in the global value chain.
On the issue of recent changes in the Merchandise Export from India Scheme, EIS, the Minister said that the capping of two crore rupees will not affect 98 per cent of the exporters who claim benefit under the scheme. He said, the government has already announced Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products, RoDTEP scheme for exporters to take the place of MEIS and a Committee has also been set up to determine the ceiling rates under the RoDTEP scheme. He said, the new scheme would reimburse the embedded taxes and duties already incurred by exporters.
The Minister, after listening to the EPC office-bearers, expressed thanks for their valuable feedback, saying that macro-numbers sometimes don't make one realize the difficulties being faced by the Exporters. He acknowledged that certain sectors, which are primarily dependent on discretionary spending, are under severe stress.
Mr Goyal promised to help the Exporters as much as possible and also take up such issues, which fall outside the ambit of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry with concerned departments. He said that SEZ issues are being taken up with the Finance Ministry. He called upon the exporters to engage with the Steering Committee set up to promote Indian manufacturing.
Mr Goyal has been holding a series of discussions with the EPCs, particularly since the lockdown. Commerce Secretary Dr Anup Wadhawan, Director General of Foreign Trade Amit Yadav and other senior officers of the Ministry were present in the meeting.
