Hegde said the government is also looking at providing more incentives to the exporting community. "I have appealed to the finance minister and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to lower export credit by 1 per cent to 10 per cent to make lending rates comparable with the international norm," he added.

The minister was delivering an address on "India's Exports in a Changing World - A Karnataka Perspective" organised by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI).

Referring to the case of rice exports to Indonesia and Kenya which were unfit for human consumption, Hegde said, the country's reputation had been further tarnished by the export of oilcakes to Malaysia which did not meet the specified quality requirement. Such exporters who causedirreparable damage to the country should be treated as outcastes by the trading community, he added.

Stating that industrial depression the world over and the Asian crisis had resulted in below target export performance during the past two years, Hegde said the country had tremendous potential and a 20 per cent export growth target has been set for the current year as against 2.6 per cent last year and 4 per cent during 1996-97.

The major irritant faced by exporters was cumbersome rules and procedures inherited from the past and the lack of infrastructure, Hegde said. These rules spoke of the mistrust shown by the administration towards the exporting community and the trend needs to be reversed. Hegde said he would appeal to prime minister AB Vajpayee to create a new infrastructure ministry for helping the industrial sector tide over these problems.

In his welcome address, FKCCI president K Lakshman presented a charter of demands to the government from Karnataka. Renewing the state's appeal for aninternational airport at Bangalore, Lakshman said the state's infrastructural requirements had increased manifold and the poor power situation was affecting industry adversely.