The Minister of State of Commerce &Industry, C.R. Chaudhary and Commerce Secretary,Ms. Rita A. Teaotiaat the presentation of the EEPC India National Awards, in New Delhi.

Assuring exporters of Government support, Minister of State of Commerce & Industry, C R Chaudhary asked the exporting community to further build on the exports of over USD 76 billion in 2017-18.

Giving away EEPC India National Awards in New Delhi last evening to 110 engineering exporters, Chaudhary said thatit is significant that these entrepreneurs made this possible in 2016-17 when the going was tough and there were lot of headwinds in the global economy. However, things improved in the following 2017-18 and the prospects seem equally encouraging this year.

In her address, Commerce Secretary Ms. Rita Teaotia said the government is working on creating an integrated logistics division within the Commerce Ministry to bring down the total cost of movement of shipments.

She asked the engineering exporters to work on a strategic plan to completely wipe out the trade deficit of USD 16 billion of the engineering sector in the next few years, with a focus on newer markets.

Ms. Teaotia said while the engineering sector with record shipments of USD 76 billion is among the best performing in the basket of merchandise exports, accounting for one-fourth of the country's total exports, but exporters must strive to become dominant playersin 5-6 sub sectors.

The Indian engineering exports, though rising at a fairly steady rate, account for just 1.2 per cent of the total global engineering exports, against 12.3 per cent of China.

On this occasion the EEPC India Chairman, Ravi Sehgal spoke about some of the issues faced by exporters likeGST refunds, OFAC sanctions, rising raw material prices and the potential threat of the export refund schemes becoming WTO non-compliant. The EEPC India has submitted several suggestions to the government for dealing with these problems.

Integrated logistics division proposed to lower shipment costs and strengthen export competitiveness amid refund and compliance concerns. Creation of an Integrated Logistics Division is proposed to reduce shipment costs and facilitate exporters, paired with a call for engineering exporters to adopt strategic plans to eliminate their trade deficit and target dominance in key sub sectors and new markets. The release identifies policy and compliance risks-GST refunds, potential WTO incompatibility of export refund schemes, OFAC sanction exposure and rising raw material costs-and notes that industry representations have been submitted to the government on these matters.