India exports to touch $ 200 bn: CII survey

India’s exports is likely to achieve twenty percent growth for the 2004-09 periods and expected to touch $200 billion by next year, said a CII Survey. However, the CEO survey conducted by the CII on Foreign Trade Policy said it required government support through tax refund schemes to achieve this feat. The survey said, to sustain the growth of exports, government should continue tax refund schemes such as Duty Entitlement Pass Book , Export Promotion Capital Goods ,Duty Free Import Authorization in the next fiscal as well. The survey said exporters are looking for new export promotion schemes from the annual supplement, to be announced on April 7. The new scheme would help exporters in getting raw material at cheaper cost and make the Indian products more competitive in the international markets, it added. The CEOs said the government should further simplify export and import procedures for small and medium enterprises, which contribute a large portion of total exports from the country. The powers of regional and zonal offices of Directorate General of Foreign Trade Policy (DGFT) should be enhanced to ensure quick approvals to exporters. Currently, the cases are sent to the Head Office of DGFT in New Delhi for approval, they said. The CEOs suggested implementing Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) across all ports, besides improving infrastructure, road linkages with ports and setting a target of a maximum of 10 hours turnaround time at ports for all goods by 2010. They said the benefits should be provided to exporters as the Indian products such as capital goods, high-tech and healthcare products, medical equipments, automobile and information technology are facing intense competition from China, Brazil, France, Bangladesh and ASEAN countries. In addition, the participants said the government should set up a mechanism to control increase in sea freight, as there is a 61 per cent increase in the cost in last one year, making exports uncompetitive.