NEW DELHI, April 8: The Delhi Exporters Association (DEA) has urged the government to create a ministry of international trade to deal with all matters relating to exports and imports and ensure that its decision will be binding on both the commerce and finance ministries.The association's move appears to be in the context what it perceives a lack of coordination between the two ministries on the revised export-import policy provisions notified by the commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde on March 31.
Association president S P Agarwal proposes to field a delegation of exporters for a meeting with cabinet secretary Prabhat Kumar to request him to persuade the finance and commerce ministries to work in unison and avoid controversies. This is affecting the planning of the exporters, he added.
Agarwal feels that the revised policy has offered peanuts to exporters due to what he considers the reported differences between the finance and commerce ministries on many major policy issues.
The commerceministry, he said, should have discussed threadbare all the provisions of the policy with the finance ministry before notifying the revised one.
He said exporters would now demand the following dynamic and practical measures in order to generate more export growth.
Tax holiday under section 80-HHC of the income-tax Act, 1961 to all exporters
Instant export credit on production of letters of credit or confirmed orders
Zero rate of interest on both packing and post-shipment credit
Abolition of 4 per cent Central sales tax
Ombudsman in each major export city to redress grievances of exporters
Exim scrips/Rep licences from the year 1990-91 onward exempted from sales tax
No Modvat certificate to claim drawback on export.Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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