Exporters Get Rs 500Cr Sop.

NEW DELHI: The government on Friday announced a Rs 500 crore package to help exporters of some sectors which are yet to recover from the slowdown. The incentives announced by commerce minister Anand Sharma are expected to help these sectors to face the fragile demand recovery in key markets, particularly Europe.

Sharma said the incentives would cover more than 600 products and be effective from January 1. The sectors for which incentives have been announced include agriculture, chemicals, carpets, engineering, electronics and plastics. Incentives have been provided to enhance the competitiveness of products which are labour and technology intensive.

"The situation in the current fiscal year is far better but the situation in Europe remains worrisome. Recovery is not even, therefore it's a challenge for our exporters," Sharma told reporters. He said incentives announced earlier would continue. Sharma said steps have also been taken to reduce the transaction cost for exporters. Exporters of pharmaceutical products would be required to use barcodes on their export products from July 1, 2011 as per global standards to facilitate tracking and tracing of their products. Sharma said this provides assurance about the quality of Indian pharma products to prospective importers.

"For Indian exports to sustain in the long run, it is important that we proceed to build a reputation for the quality of our products and provide our exporters the necessary flexibilities to be able to face the challenges of emerging dimensions of international trade," Sharma said. Exports to 15 nations which include Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, China and Japan would qualify for incentives announced by the minister on Friday. The incentives would be provided under different schemes such as Focus Market and Focus Products from January to December 2011.

The commerce ministry had announced a Rs 600 crore package last January to help exports. Shipments out of India have shown robust growth in recent months and in the April-December period, it has grown 29.5%. Gems, jewellery, engineering goods, leather and leather products have performed strongly. The minister said the export target of $200 billion for 2010-11 would be easily met and it will go beyond that.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com