'Govt's inconsistent trade policies hurting exporters'

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SME Times News Bureau | 11 Apr, 2012
Industry body CII Tuesday viewed that frequent amendments in Indian trade policies are affecting Indian exporters who have to pay the price of delays.

"The revival of the Indian economy is facing a new risk of unpredictable trade policies. The brunt of this uncertainty is being felt both nationally and internationally. Frequent amendments in Indian trade policies have corroded the trust of foreign buyers while the Indian exporter is made to pay for delays. Be it pulses, sugar or cotton, exporters have no respite," the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said in a press statement.

On exports of pulses, it said, "India is the largest producer of pulses in the world, yet it is also the largest importer of pulses," it said, adding that there is a strong felt need to boost production of pulses to help India to become self sufficient by meeting domestic requirement and generating a surplus for export.

"CII strongly believes that India can achieve a production revolution in pulses. An analysis by the Tata Strategic Management Group has also shown that by adopting best practices and increasing yield to the highest levels, India can increase production by 13 mt a year," the statement adds.

On sugar exports, CII National Committee on Sugar Ajay Shriram said in India, the volume of sugar exports and imports are decided by the government on the basis on surplus or shortfall anticipated between production and consumption, and due to inconsistent trade policy on sugar and late decision making, the industry has suffered severely either by paying higher prices for imports or getting lower prices for its exports, eventually resulting in loss to the economy.

Gokul Patnaik, Chairman CII National Task force on Agrimarketing and Ex-Chairman, APEDA said that the recent ban on export of various agricultural commodities such as cotton, pulses, sugar, casein have eroded the credibility of India as a dependable exporter.

"Foreign importers have been asking 'Is India only a fair weather friend?' Indian exporters are being dubbed unreliable. It will be in national interest if Government of India takes a long term view and export-import is not regulated by 'switch on switch off' policy. Tariff control would be a more effective and acceptable way of dealing with temporary shortages rather than quantitative restrictions," he said.

"Consistent trade policies help create a reliable outlook. The returns would be positive for brand India internationally. To achieve this, Indian trade policy needs to shift from gate keeping on export policies towards more consistent, reliable and transparent standards for export of agricultural commodities. Only then will exporters face certainty and be able to build and leverage brand India internationally and remain competitive," the experts viewed.