CALCUTTA, May 23: The directorate-general of foreign trade (DGFT) has announced the second set of credit rates under the duty entitlement pass book (DEPB) scheme.The figures, released on May 21 covers 576 items across engineering, chemicals and electronics industries. The first set, declared immediately after the announcement of the new Exim Policy on March 31, included 51 items.

In cases where the entitlement is 15 per cent or more, credit shall not exceed 50 per cent of the product's present market value (PMV), the public notice clarified.

The exporter will have to declare on his shipping bill that the benefit under the DEPB scheme would not exceed 50 per cent of the PMV of the exported product.

The notification also said items not mentioned in the DEPB credit rates can be exported, provided they are covered under the standard input-output norms.In these cases, the exporter will have to apply within 90 days from the date of export or 60 days from the date of notification, whichever is earlier.

Director general of foreign trade BS Mohapatra told a meeting of exporters on Friday that another set of rates will announced within the next 15 days.

He was addressing an open house on the Exim Policy, organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) and the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC).

Mohapatra noted that the list has been shortened, compared with the output-input norms because similar goods have been clubbed together.

He said the government was working on a medium-term strategy to boost exports.

"We are drawing up a medium-term strategy and trying to work out the reasons behind the export fall. However, one should not go for the monetary figures only because sectors like software, chemicals, engineering and electronics have done well," he said.

He also stressed that if the country was keen on increasing its present share in the global trade from 0.07 per cent, it would have to concentrate more on manufactured items.

In the new exim policy, the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme allowed import of capital goods at a concessional rate of 10 per cent instead of 15 per cent. Moreover, the zero-duty facility has been reduced from Rs 20 crore to Rs 5 crore and limited to the agricultural sector capital goods only.

Exporters feel that the small and medium sectors cannot take advantage of the scheme. Mohapatra said the scheme was focused on the high technology industries, and may be phased out.

"It was meant to upgrade the high technology industries. Moreover safety of the capital goods sector was also considered. However, I think that there is no need for such a scheme in future," Mohapatra said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.