The commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde had announced on March 31 the setting up of the ombudsman to resolve the problems of the exporting community during the announcement of amendments in the 1997-2000 Exim policy.

Further, the synthetic and rayon exporters have welcomed the reduction in the threshold limit under the EPCG scheme. According to Gupta, the lowering of the threshold limit to Rs 1 crore from Rs 20 crore earlier will go a long way in encouraging the manufacturers, especially the small and tiny sectors, to upgrade their facilities and improve the quality of their products.

Gupta also welcomed the move of the Hegde to simplify the procedures by reducing theinterface of exporters with authorities, including the office of the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). "this would drastically bring down the harassment to genuine exporters which would enable them to concentrate on the main task of exports."

While welcoming the move to convert export promotion zones (EPZs) and export oriented units (EOUs) into free trade zones (FTZ), Gupta requested an early announcement of the operative details to facilitate the decision-making process of the exporters.

He expressed happiness over the continuation of the Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) scheme and added that the newly introduced flexibility in the scheme would be of immense help to synthetic and rayon textiles exporters.

Meanwhile, a recent delegation of exporters had apprised the commerce minister of the "havoc" caused in the wake of the changes in the excise duty structure on processed fabrics from advalorem to compounded levy on chamber basis from December 16, 1998.

Gupta further added that the ministergave a sympathetic hearing to the concerns of the exporters and promised to take up the matter with the finance minister to find an early solution.

The delegation also appraised the minister on the issue of refund of excise duty for exports made during the intervening period between December 16, 1998 and February 16, 1999, with retrospective effect for rebate from February 16 and refund of yarn stage duty of 7.2 per cent.

They have also asked for refund of both yarn duty and process duty to the processed fabrics falling under chapter 58 and 60.

He said that the haste with which government affected changed duty structure on processed fabrics from ad valorem to compounded levy on chamber basis vide the above notification has "created havoc" with the export activities of processed fabrics.

As a result, the processed fabrics exports which accounted for nearly 87 per cent (Rs 1,650 crore) of the total synthetics export has come to a near standstill.

He stated that prior to change in excise dutystructure, the exporters were getting refund of full 20 per cent of paid excise duty. The latest notification has provided for refund of the duty from February 16, 1999, but the department has yet not clarified about the duty paid between December 16, 1998, (when the duty was changed) until February 16, 1999.