SME Times News Bureau | 15 Jul, 2015
The government will soon set up a Trade Facilitation Council
comprising members of Centre and states to promote exports from India, reports
media.
The council will be chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman and secretaries of key ministries and state ministers will be the
members, it said.
The main objective of the council will be facilitating trade from states in a
bid to boost the country's exports.
"The real work happens in states. We are setting up this council. We will
also ask and encourage them to formulate their own State Trade Policy," an
official said.
To discuss the issue, Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia will hold meetings with
officials from the states on Wednesday.
The other issues which will come up in the meeting include problems related
with infrastructure and governance; local tax issues and its refund; and
states' regulatory environment.
"We will also look at several other issues. What is that holding states
back (on trade front)? There are infrastructure and governance issues in states.
Every state needs to look at that. We are also looking at local taxation issues
particularly where refund of taxes are involved," the official said.
The commerce ministry is also working on other measures including
dis-segregation of exports data state-wise.
"We will give access to DGCI&S window for their (states) own data to
see where they are going," the official added.
The Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S),
under the Ministry of Commerce, is an official organisation for collection,
compilation and dissemination of India's trade statistics and commercial
information.
The Commerce Ministry will encourage every states for a State Trade Policy in
order to streamline procedures and increase exports.
"The idea of tomorrow's meeting is to see where the shoe is pinching. The
ministry will ask what they need to do," the official added.
Seeking to involve states for promoting exports, the Commerce Ministry had
asked them to appoint commissioners and prepare export strategy.
As many as 21 states have appointed export commissioners while 14 states
including Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have framed strategies for outward
shipments.
The move is aimed at achieving the USD 900 billion exports target by 2019-20.
The ministry is also working with the states to prepare a list of
infrastructure projects which would ensure full potential of growth in exports.
Contracting for the sixth month in a row, India's exports dipped by 20.19 per
cent in May to USD 22.34 billion.