SME Times News Bureau | 11 Sep, 2019
Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal, held a meeting with
around 100 domestic industry, manufacturers, associations of various sectors
and users on Wednesday in New Delhi to discuss and provide a holistic view
about regulatory instruments for the formulation and implementation of
effective trade policy and development strategy.
Senior officials of various Ministries and Departments of Central Government
also participated in the meeting. Ministers of State for Commerce &
Industry, Hardeep Singh Puri and SomParkash were also present during the
meeting.
Goyal, in his address,said that tariff &
non-tariff measures will be used judiciously by India with an ultimate
aim to enable industry to become more competitive.
Piyush Goyal said that Departments of Commerce
& DPIIT are there to balance interests of domestic consumers and industry.
He said that DGTR office is being strengthened
with more man power who will be properly trained to perform their duties
effectively.
Regarding corruption issues that are delaying
consignments,the Minister requested exporters to write directly to Secretaries
of line ministries or to Commerce & Industry Ministry as Government of
India is committed to ensuring a corruption free environment in each and every
Ministry and Department of the Government.
Additional Secretary and DG Trade Remedies said
that the helpdesk in Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has been
upgraded to a facilitation centre to create awareness regarding trade remedies
and to provide full support to the industry, particularly nascent domestic producers
and MSMEs.
The objectives of the meeting were awareness
generation about regulatory instruments amongst the stake-holders, to provide a
platform where issues faced by the domestic industry may be appropriately
addressed and calibrate trade policy to balance
domestic industry interests, including protection against unfair trade
practices with imperatives of consumer interest, efficiency and
competitiveness.
The meeting focused on the prudent use of all
available Trade Policy Instruments, viz. Tariff Measures, Non-Tariff Measures
as well as Trade Remedial Measures for the Indian industry.
Detailed discussions were held on the ease of goods
movement and competitiveness which are necessary for India to integrate with
global value chains.
Goyal stressed on the need to ensure secure and
vibrant manufacturing in strategic sectors, and the necessity to include
domestic stakeholders in trade policy-making process, along with policy and
institutional coordination amongst stakeholders and the Government.
The meeting stressed on a systematic
understanding of trade policy instruments, especially non-tariff measures, to
ensure that limited resources are channelized for achieving economic
development. Further, the meeting discussed the policies adopted by other
countries. In this context, it was noted that other countries, especially the
developed ones resort more to non-tariff measures than tariff measures.
The rate of growth of merchandise imports during
2018-19 over 2017-18, was higher than that of exports over the same period,
which underscores the need to increase exports at a much higher rate. This is
possible only if Indian industry is globally competitive.