The Union Commerce Ministry is likely to make employment generation the highlight of amendments in the final year of Export-Import Policy, 2002-07.
Engineering process outsourcing (EPO) and handicrafts sector will be under consideration by Commerce Minister Kamal Nath when changes are made in Exim policy on April 7.
A proposal is on the cards for handicraft sector to expand the duty drawback scheme to include service tax in it.
This will enable manufacturers and merchant-exporters to claim refunds of service tax along with customs duty, with exporters being given the option to either claim Cenvat or refund of service tax.
The commerce Ministry is believed to have proposals for handicrafts and engineering outsourcing which likely has a huge employment generation potential.
Small scale and cottage industries sector involved in handicraft exports provide employment to over 60 lakh artisans.
Handicraft export during April-November 2005-06, was valued at Rs 7,819 crore, up 9 percent in rupee terms and 11 percent in dollar terms. The target for the full year has been set at Rs 14,000 crore.
The Ministry proposes providing incentives, as for past three consecutive years it has been able to exceed export target. Handicraft exports exceeded target by 19 percent in 2004-05, by 18 percent in 2003-04 and by 27 percent in 2002-03.
The Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) submitted a memorandum toPrime Minister seeking creation of a Rs 1,000 crore corpus to promote handicraft exports.
The Prime Minister was informed that exports were registering a yearly rise of 20 percent over the past decade but India's global handicrafts market share market was just 2 percent as against China's share of 30 percent.
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