Commerce and Industry Minister Smt.Nirmala Sitharaman has said that fall in exports has been arrested and growth will steadily take place. Speaking at the Regional Editors Conference of Southern States in Chennai today she said Export during 2015–16 valued at US $ 262.30 billion had registered a 15.5% decline but 12 sectors like Tea, Tobacco, Spices, Fruits & Vegetables, Cereal Preparations & Miscellaneous Processed Item, Ceramic Products & Glassware, Drugs & Pharmaceuticals, RMG of all Textiles, Jute Manufacturing including Floor Covering, Carpet, Handicrafts Excluding Hand Made Carpet & Plastic and Linoleum. recorded positive growth in value terms.

With reference to Southern States, Commerce Minister said four new projects have been set up in Tamil Nadu under ASIDE, one Project has been approved in Kerala and two Projects were approved in Karnataka and two projects in Andhra Pradesh.

Smt. Sitharaman said India is the largest producer, exporter and consumer of spices in the World, during 2015-16 the export of spices & spice products from the country was 8,43,255 tons valued ₹ 16238.23 crore. In the case of export of cardamom (small) there is an all time achievement of 5500 tons valued ₹ 450 crores during 2015-16.

Commerce Minister said annual tea production is 1233 million kgs. against the target of 1195 million kgs., which is an all-time record. She said in India, coffee is cultivated in about 4.34 lakh hectares mainly confined to southern states viz., Karnataka (54.20%), Kerala (19.7%) and Tamil Nadu (8.0%), which form traditional coffee tracts. She said During the last 4 years, more than one lakh small growers have benefitted under the Board’s development schemes and this has helped in achieving an all-time record crop production of 3.5 lakh MT in 2015-16,the welfare measures of Coffee Board have supported about 38,000 children of labourers and tiny growers with education stipends and merit incentives, during the last 4 years.In the Rubber Sector Southern states account for 44% of NR consumption in the country indicating the extent of rubber based industrialisation. Major tyre companies have factories in the Southern States and there are many MSMEs in general rubber goods sector manufacturing a range of rubber products.

Commerce Minister said that the Ministry was looking into diversification of export product basket ,diversification into non-traditional markets and conclusion of ongoing FTA negotiations and initiating new FTAs for promotion of exports.

Talking about Industry, Minister said Manufacturing sector grew at 9.3% in 2015-16, much higher than the 5-6% growth in previous 3 financial year and was the major contributor to the healthy 7.6% growth of GDP in 2015-16.

She said India was 3rd in the list of top prospective host economies for 2016-18 (World Investment Report 2016 , UNCTAD), Our Rank improved by 16 positions to 55th in the World Economic Forum’s ‘Global Competitiveness Report 2015-16’,Rank in the ‘Doing Business Report 2015’ was 142 among 189 countries, which improved to 130 in the Doing Business Report, 2016 and the rank improved 19 positions to 34th in the World Bank’s ‘Logistics Performance Index 2016’.

Smt. Sitharaman said 20 Services of Central Government, 14 services each of Andhra Pradesh & Odisha and 2 services of NCT Delhi integrated so far on the eBiz portal,Industrial licensing has been simplified and validity extended. She said Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015 has been enacted. A single window interface for facilitating trade (SWIFT) has been implemented and 24/7 customs clearance facilities extended to 19 sea ports & 17 Air Cargo complexes. She said Unified building bye-laws with risk-based inspection regimes for different building types has been notified and Online unified “Shram Suvidha” Portal has been launched.

On the ease of doing business Minister said, 340 point Action Plan has been shared with all States for implementation, Workshops were conducted in States on request and Online dashboard for reporting and Evaluation is an ongoing process.

On Start up India , Smt. Sitharaman said Legal support & fast-tracking patent examination at lower costs has been provided she said for relaxed norms of public procurement for Startups and faster Exit for Startups the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Act 2016 has been enacted.She said Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) & Self Employment &Talent Utilization Program (SETU) have been launched for promotion of Innovation Hubs. The Minister said a Logistics Data Services Project, implemented by Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) has been launched to integrate information with various agencies across supply chain to provide detailed real time information in a single window at JNPT Port, Mumbai.

Export diversification and trade facilitation drive policy focus to restore growth and improve business competitiveness. Policy focus is on arresting export decline through product and market diversification and concluding and initiating preferential trade arrangements; sectoral and regional project support and supply chain measures aim to boost export capacity. Regulatory facilitation includes simplified industrial licensing, specialised commercial procedure legislation, single window trade facilitation, integrated online services and logistics data integration projects. Complementary reforms for start ups and innovation, fast track patent examination, relaxed procurement norms and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Act are highlighted to improve the business environment and support growth.