NEW DELHI: Exporters’ body FIEO on Wednesday said a concerted strategy would be required to achieve the goods exports target of $400 billion for 2021-22 set by the Commerce Ministry.
Exports should be treated as national priority and provided adequate liquidity. Besides, all export benefits under duty drawback, tax refund scheme RoDTEP, and goods and services tax that would help in making shipments profitable will have to released immediately for achieving the target, it said.
“Liquidity should be addressed by encouraging banks to lend to the export sector and more importantly instantly releasing all export benefits including drawback, MEIS (Merchandise Exports from India Scheme), GST and RoDTEP (Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products) to name a few.
This will help in making exports profitable else with delay in refund, exporters profitability is wiped out with increasing interest burden,” said Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President S K Saraf. He also expressed concerns over the rising prices of domestic inputs and suggested reduction in import tariff to soften the prices.
Saraf added that although order book position of exporters is encouraging, increase in the prices of many inputs have resulted in renegotiation of orders with some price escalation, which may also support exports in value terms by 10-15 per cent.
He also urged shipping companies to rationally hike freight as all stakeholders are facing the same problem and with recovery in sight, all will sail together. India’s exports during April-March 2020-21 fell 7.4 per cent to $290.18 billion compared to $313.36 billion in 2019-20, as exports had fallen steeply in the initial months of the fiscal due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
Aluminium industry seeks tax rebate of 5% on exports
In a letter to senior officials of ministries of Commerce and Industry and Finance and Corporate Affairs has sought urgent implementation of the RoDTEP Scheme (Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products) for the aluminium industry on priority to survive these challenging times. The association has asked for at least 5 per cent remission rate under the scheme is required as inordinate delay in notifying sector-wise remission rates is creating high level of uncertainty for exporters. The AAI also requested a separate budget allocation to double exports over 2-3 years.