Anand Sharma to meet PM on early sops for exporters.

NEW DELHI: The government has begun work on a package for exporters that could include steps to increase availability of credit and lower their cost, measures that commerce minister Anand Sharma is expected to press for expediting when he meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday.

"Our exporters are unable to take advantage of the rupee fall due to credit availability issues. Therefore, we are pushing for quick implementation of the RBI's Padmanabhan committee's recommendations," said Commerce Secretary SR Rao.

Some of the steps that could be on the cards include review of the Gold Card Scheme for extension of export credit, extension of swap facility to at least three years with an annual rollover, and including export finance under the priority sector advances for scheduled commercial banks, which were recommended by the RBI's technical panel.

The idea is to help exporters leverage their advantageous position in terms of cost to garner market share in the US as it sees signs of recovery. The commerce secretary and the Director General of Foreign Trade had discussions with RBI officials and industry representatives on the immediate issues that were confronting exporters and the steps required. Some of these issues are expected to be highlighted by Sharma when he meets Singh.

DGFT Anup Pujari, while releasing the export figures for June, had said the government was planning some remedial measures to support exports.

The government's immediate concern is inability of exporters to leverage the sharp fall in rupee that had put India's goods in an advantageous position vis-a-vis its competitors in the global markets. With India's current account deficit widening to an all-time high of 4.8% of the GDP in 2012-13, boosting exports is seen as a long-term solution.

Despite a sharp fall of more than 10% in the rupee against the dollar since the beginning of the fiscal, exports have contracted in two of the three months, with a 4.6% decline in June. The industry has demanded reduction in the rupee export credit rates by at least 4% as banks have asked exporters that have availed foreign currency loans to upfront cut exposure or provide export proceeds to that extent.

Exporters have also been lobbying with the government for early implementation of the measures recommended by Padmanabhan panel.

Source : articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com