Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Commerce & Industry

11-October-2011 16:08 IST

Anand Sharma Chairs Borad of Trade Meeting

In a run up to announcement of export incentives and taking forward the process of Government Industry consultation, Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce, Industry & Textiles, Chaired the meeting of the Board of Trade, here today. The Members and the Minister deliberated on Trade scenario of the country; overview of the Global Trade, policy measures to mitigate fallout of the adverse scenario, procedural simplifications and views on strategy paper put by the Department of Commerce.

The Minister expressed satisfaction that Government measures were able to arrest the fall and reverse the declining trend of exports. In 2008-09 India adopted a multi pronged strategy by providing a stable policy regime and adopting a conscious market diversification plan and providing additional support to sectors hit badly by the global recession. Technological up-gradation of export sectors, simplification of procedures to reduce transaction costs were also encouraged. “We added 41 new markets for incentives in Africa, Latin America, Oceania and Central Asia. Labour intensive industry received our special attention as we recognized the need of protecting the interests of millions of people engaged in textiles, leather and gems and jewellery with fluctuating global demand”, the Minister added.

The Minister noted “last year, we had set for ourselves a target of merchandise exports of US$ 200 billion. It was the collective efforts of the entire exporting community that the exports crossed US$ 254 billion mark, exceeding the target by over 25%. Exports for the current year have shown even greater resilience and the data from April to August 2011 stood at US$ 134.5 billion, registering a growth of over 54% over the same period last year. Exports during January – August 2011 stands at US$ 206.4 billion. This has given us a measure of reassurance that the approach and strategy which we have crafted together has withstood us even in times of adversity.”

The Board also stressed the need to meaningfully engage with China which has emerged as our largest trading partner with a dramatic increase in trade touching US$ 60 billion last year, however, with a huge trade deficit of US$ 20 billion. India’s exports to China are largely commodity based and Iron ore exports dominate export basket. There are areas of concerns as well as opportunities.

MoS Shri Jyotiraditya M Scindia gave the details of the Ministry’s effort to vastly improve the business climate by introducing streamlined procedures. He said that the preparation for E-Biz portals and single platform for various steps of doing business. He also informed about the focused approach that the government has adopted for engaging Latin American countries. He said that phase two of transaction cost reduction is underway.

From Industry CII President Shri B Muthuraman, Shri Onkar S. Kunwar, Chairman Apollo Tyres; Y. C Deveshwar of ITC; Venu Srinivasan of TVS Motors; Ramu S. Deora, heads of various export promotion bodies attended the meeting. Shri Rahul Khullar, Commerce Secretary, Finance Secretary RS Gujral, Secretary Textiles, Ms Rita Menon and Dr. Anup K Pujari, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and other senior officials attended the meeting.

The Board of Trade has a dynamic role of advising government on relevant issues connected with Foreign Trade Policy. There is a process of continuous interaction between the Board of Trade and Government in order to achieve the desired objective of boosting India's exports. It also advises the government on preparation and implementation of short term as well as long term strategies for enhancing exports in the light of emerging national and international trade scenarios.

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DS/GK

Export policy consultation drives incentives and procedural simplification to support diversification and reduce transaction costs. The Board of Trade advised continuation of export incentives, market diversification, technological up gradation and targeted support for labour intensive sectors, while promoting procedural reforms to reduce transaction costs through phased measures and development of an E Biz single platform; it also urged meaningful engagement with China to address trade imbalances and commodity concentration, reaffirming the Board's advisory role in shaping short and long term foreign trade strategy.