To help exporters fight the shrinkage of markets in the west, the commerce ministry on Friday announced export sops amounting to Rs 500 crore. The fiscal incentives would be doled out to a select list of exporters under schemes such as the Focus Products and Focus Markets. Sectors from agriculture products, engineering, plastics, textiles and chemicals are going to benefit from it.
?The situation (of the export sector) in the ongoing financial year is far better however the situation in Europe is worrisome. If the markets there do not improve then it poses a challenge for our exporters,? said commerce minister Anand Sharma.
Under the Focus Market Scheme merchandise exporters get duty credit of 3% on the total value of consignments. Exporters to over 15 countries including Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, China and Japan are going to avail the benefit from the scheme. The Focus Product Scheme, exporters avail duty credit of 5%.
Sharma said that despite the concerns of a slow turnaround in European markets, the total exports would still touch $200 billion by the end of the financial year. In fact over the last 15 months, exports have shown signs of a remarkable turnaround growing at nearly 30% plus.
In the April-December period exports stood at $164.7 billion. In December alone merchandise exports jumped 36.5% to $22.5 billion, the highest in 33 months. In fact riding on the optimism the commerce ministry has set up a team of officials to explore ways to double exports to $400 billion in the next three to four years.