Saurabh Gupta | 09 Jul, 2009
The Delhi Exporters Association (DEA) has presented a 5-point action plan to the government for the revival of exports.

"The Delhi Exporters Association is deeply concerned about sagging exports for the last 8 months and the indifferent attitude of the Government particularly in addressing the problems in the Budget proposals 2009-10," said S.P. Agarwal, President, DEA.

DEA who has been representing to the government on behalf of exporters said that in order to arrest the downtrend, the authorities must take the following immediate actions:

   1. Revival of Tax SOPS u/s 80 HHC of Income Tax Act.
   2. Complete initial exemption from service tax for export relating services; No Pay and Refund: systems evolved, are so cumbersome that not even a single refund of the merchant exporter or Non-Excise registered Unit has been granted so far.
   3. VAT: The refund of VAT is a cumbersome process and needs to be exempted initially as in the earlier Sales Tax laws.  Pay and Refund is time and money consuming.
   4. Interest cost needs to be brought down at the flat rate of 5% for a period of 365 days atleast.  The present rate is minimum 7% and above.
   5. The infrastructure in the country in many spheres is outdated, which is not being properly maintained and frequent breakdown is common.  In addition to make fresh investment in the infrastructure of the international level, the existing infrastructure is to be given equal priority in maintenance.

Agarwal said, "These actions would bring down transaction costs and make exports competitive."

"In the present Budget, there is no even mention of any of the above prominent problems. The government needs to act before it is too late," he added.