The government has a proposal to extend the 2 per cent subsidy period to partially offset the high cost of credit for the exporters. This was stated by Minister of State for Commerce Dr D Purandeswari in a written reply in the Rajya sabha today. She said that prior to June, 2012, the scheme was available to Handlooms, Handicrafts, SMEs and carpets sectors. In June 2012, it had been extended to labour intensive sectors, namely, Toys, sports goods, processed agricultural products, and readymade garments, in addition to the four sectors benefitting from the scheme earlier. The Minister added that the scheme has been widened to include 134 sub-sectors of Engineering sector from 1st of January this year.