SME Times News Bureau | 05 Aug, 2019
Commerce and
Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that India’s exports will reach US$ 1
Trillion when India becomes a US$ 5 Trillion economy.
Speaking at a
FIEO event, Goyal said India is destined to be a US$ 5 Trillion and exports
have to rise to reach US$ 5 Trillion.
He added that
Government will provide complete facilitation to exporters and manufacturers
but days of subsidies are getting over.
Goyal assured
the industry that while MEIS will be withdrawn but it will be replaced by WTO
compatible RoSCTL scheme, which is already operational for apparel and made
ups.
He urged the
industry to collect the data to get rebate of all indirect taxes and cess
through RoSCTL including Electricity, Coal cess and royalty paid on mining etc.
The Minister
said that Government is reviewing all existing FTAs so as to assess their
impact on exports as well as manufacturing. Moreover, further new
negotiations will keep industry and consumer interest at the top of the agenda.
Goyal asked the
industry to move up the value chain to boost exports. He assured that the
concerns of the industry with regard to the cost of credit and availability of
credit is being deliberated with RBI and Banks so as to address them.
He urged the
industry to work together with Government so as to raise India’s share in
global exports from less than 2% to 5%.
FIEO highlighted
that tariff war has opened huge opportunity for deeper penetration and
expansion in US and China. India can quickly add US$ 10-12 Bn to its exports,
if competitiveness is maintained and capacities are created quickly to match
large demands coming from these markets.
Sharad Kumar
Saraf, President, FIEO said that the identification of specified tariff lines
in US and China by Department of Commerce has resulted in focussed attention by
exporters to these products which has been supplemented by proactive
intervention by Indian Embassy in China and US who are working hard to link
Indian exporters with foreign buyers.
Saraf said that
China has been able to manage its currency, which deprecated by about 9% since
the onset of tariff war, blunting 25% tariff disadvantage by about 11-12%.
Moreover, appreciation of Rupee by about 4-5 %, further eroded the advantage
for Indian exporters.
FIEO said that
how quickly we can add to capacity will determine our success to get best out
of tariff war.
Ajay Sahai, DG
& CEO, FIEO suggested that excess capacity in Special Economic Zones (SEZs)
may be permitted to provide plug and play facility to grab the opportunity
provided by tariff war as Industry may not invest to create permanent facility
to increase production as duration and magnitude of additional tariff itself is
uncertain.
Moreover,
industry feels that with the creation of additional capacity, it may breach the
threshold of MSME depriving it of various fiscal benefits.
Stakeholders
also raised various issues affecting competitiveness covering logistics,
infrastructure inadequacies, transaction cost, availability and cost of credit
etc.