Agricultural
export need greater focus to harness its potential, says
Mr. Kamal Nath
The Union
Minister for Commerce and Industry has urged the exporters to exploit the
export potential
of agricultural products. "With 650 million people engaged in
agriculture that contributes just 23% of the GDP, there is a need to focus
on identifying areas for increasing the agricultural exports so that farmers
also engage in the global trade and become globally competitive," the
Minister said at an Award Ceremony organized by FIEO in New Delhi on 26
December 2006. He called for evolving a strategy to promote the export of
processed foods and requested FIEO to undertake a study on how to boost
agricultural exports from the country in the next five years. The Minister
also indicated his desire to bring in necessary policy changes for
transformation of Agricultural Economic Zones in the country.
While giving away Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu Awards on behalf of the Federation to outstanding exporters and export facilitators for the years 2003-04 & 2004-05, Mr. Kamal Nath congratulated them for helping the country achieve the export target set for the last fiscal and assured them of Government’s continued support to achieve higher targets in future. About 162 exporters and export facilitators got the Awards in the forms of Gold, Silver, Bronze Trophies and Certificates of Excellence. The Minister also conferred Life Time Achievement Awards on a renowned bureaucrat Mr. PMA Hakeem and a noted industrialist Mr. R. L Toshniwal and gave a Special Award to ECGC for its admirable support to exporters of the country. Mr. G.K.Pillai, Commerce Secretary and Mr. B.S.Meena, DGFT were present on the occasion along with FIEO officials Mr. O.P. Garg, President, Mr. Ganesh Kumar Gupta, Vice President, Mr. Ajay Sahay, DG and others. FIEO gives away Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu awards since the year 1995-96. The Niryat Shree Award recognizes outstanding performance in exports by members of the Federation, while Niryat Bandhu Award recognizes the contribution of export facilitators like financial institutions, banks, insurance companies, freight forwarders or other government or non-government agencies engaged in export promotion.
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| The Chief Guest Mr. Kamal Nath (centre)at FIEO 9th & 10th set of Niryat Shree & Niryat Bandhu Award Function. On Minister’s right are, Mr. G.K. Pillai, Commerce Secretary; Mr. Ganesh Kumar Gupta; Mr. Ajay Sahai, Director General, FIEO. On Minister’s left are, Mr. O P Garg, President, FIEO; Mr. B.S. Meena, DGFT; and Mr. Subhash Mittal, FIEO Committee on Awards. |
While thanking the Minister for taking out his valuable time to join the Award Ceremony, FIEO President Mr. O. P. Garg said "The Foreign Trade Policy has geared up exports on the path of exponential growth. And it is believed by experts that if the two schemes of export promotion - focus product and focus market schemes - are implemented successfully, our annual export growth may exceed 30%. From the exporters’ side, I have the confidence to say that we will match the nation’s expectations if, at the same time, the Government expands and upgrades the needed infrastructure in a time-bound frame."
FIEO President expressed his happiness over shift in the direction of exports with the signing of various free trade agreements and inter-regional treaties within Asia. "We find that the shares of US and EU in our total exports have come down from 21 and 23% to 17% and 23% respectively in 2005-06. On the other hand, in 2005-06, more than 30% of India’s exports were within Asia, compared to 14% in 2000-01. This directional diversification is a healthy trend and reduces our reliance on traditional trade partners which are gradually becoming more and more protectionist." Said the President.
While talking of external trade barriers, Mr. Garg drew the attention of the Minister towards some of the domestic problems faced by exporters with respect to fringe benefit tax and service tax which continue to be levied on exports despite persistent requests by the Federation for their withdrawal. He further said that the retrospective application of income tax on the sale of DEPB, imposition of 4% CST on procurement of inputs from other States amounting to 2.8 per cent of the export value, etc. lead to substantial increase in the transaction cost making Indian products less competitive internationally.
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| Mr. Subhash Mittal (right) welcoming the Commerce & Industry Minister Mr. Kamal Nath. Mr. Ganesh Kumar Gupta, Vice President, FIEO (extreme left) | Mr. Subhash Mittal, (right) welcoming the Commerce Secretary Mr. G.K. Pillai. |
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| Mr. O P Garg (left) presenting a bouque to Mr. Kamal Nath. | Mr. O P Garg (right) discussing with Mr. Kamal Nath |
FIEO Vice President, Mr. Ganesh Kumar Gupta while concluding the ceremony observed, "Exports are a vital sector of the economy as they not only provide the required foreign exchange to pay our import bills
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but also provide employment to skilled and semi-skilled artisans and workers in the urban, rural and other far flung areas in the various labour intensive sectors such as carpets, handlooms, handicrafts, leather etc. The tremendous growth in exports is indicative of the vast potential that the export sector has and that can be unleashed and harnessed for the larger good if adequate policies are provided. Substantial effort has been made to facilitate exports with adequate policy measures but bottlenecks such as infrastructure problems, imposition of service tax, fringe benefit tax etc. still remain and it is hoped that the Government will soon evolve a mechanism to compensate the exporter adequately so that the tax components are completely excluded from exports.". |
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| A view of the Award winners. |
