Budget exercise begins, Kamal Nath gives a call to textile & fashion industry
14 Jan '06
4 min read
“Since Rs.8,000 crore is being spent on the scheme, it must generate at least 20-30 times this amount by way of export earnings for the country”, Shri Kamal Nath observed and invited the Board members to also give their suggestions on this aspect.
Agreeing with the exporters on the need for a stable policy regime and the adverse impact of the extension of the DEPB (Duty Entitlement Pass Book) scheme in fits and starts for a few month at a time, Shri Kamal Nath assured that such uncertainties would be removed and announced that the DEPB continue till a new scheme was finalized.
“Not only will it continue, but we are also committed to there being a reasonable overlap period in order to have a smooth transition”, he said.
Stating that India's export growth had regained its momentum in December, 2005, Shri Kamal Nath indicated that the growth of exports in the 9 months of the current financial year (April – December) was over 18 percent, which was commendable considering that this was achieved on the already all-time high base of 26% growth last year.
India's merchandise exports from April – December 2005-06 stood at a little over US $ 66 billion, while imports during this period, if oil imports were excluded, amounted to US $ 65 billion.
Shri Kamal Nath said that he was bullish about achieving export target of US $ 93 billion during 2005-06 and urged the Board of Trade to strategize for even exceeding this target.
There were presentations at the meeting on the Working Group reports relating to: Evaluation of Different Export Promotion Schemes, Trade Facilitation, Manufacturing Sector and Identifying specific sectors and strategies having comparative advantage.
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