UCCI suggests opening Jt. DGFT office at Udaipur
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Dr. R.K.Dhawan (extreme left) addressing the meeting. On his left, are Mr. M.L. Lunawath, Mr. P.K. Mohanty, Jt. Secretary (Drawback); Mr. M L Khimesara, Hony. Secretary, UCCI; and Mr. Sunil Agnihotri, Director, FIEO(NR). |
President of Udaipur Chamber of Commerce & Industry Mr. M. L. Lunawath suggests opening Jt. DGFT office at Udaipur. Addressing a Seminar on ‘Export Promotion from Rajasthan’ organized by FIEO in association with his Chamber on 6 October at Udaipur, he said, this would help resolve various issues of exporters of Udaipur and boost exports from the region. He went on to say that to promote exports from the state, the government should relax direct and indirect taxes which were levied on the exports.
Speaking further, Mr. Lunawath demanded industry status for stone cutting and polishing sector. He said Rajasthan Government has given the status of industry to stone cutting and polishing sector but the state taxation department is not recognizing it. He urged that an immediate notification should be issued in this regard to avoid ambiguity.
A large number of exporters representing sectors such as marble & granite, textiles, handicrafts, pharmaceuticals, chemicals etc. who joined the Seminar, raised many issues, for instance, pending DEPB claims, frequent changes in EPCG redemption format and delay in clearing redemption, insistence for producing installation certificate by Central Excise Authority on companies which are not registered with it, problems faced in DTA sale of marble by 100% EOUs, treating marble industry and manufacturer under IT Act, freight subsidy for export consignment from Rajasthan, incentive for captive power plants for textile and other industry and other related issues.
Mr. P K Mohanty, Joint Secretary (Drawback) and Mr. S K Prasad, Additional DGFT who were also present in the Seminar assured to resolve these issues in an early timeframe. With regard to providing export subsidy, Mr. Mohanty said that it was against WTO commitments and would thus invite countervailing duties from importing countries.
Earlier, while welcoming the participants, Northern Region Chairman of FIEO Dr. R. K. Dhawan drew the attention of the government officials towards inordinate delays in cancellation of bonds and bank guarantees submitted against advance license, refund of terminal excise duty paid by the mills towards procurement of mill machinery, settling of DEPB claims etc. Towards building export infrastructure in the state, he suggested enhancement of fund under ASIDE scheme.
Continuing his address, Dr. Dhawan made a reference to the issue of rising rupee and suggested that the government should consider adopting Dual Foreign Exchange Rate mechanism having fixed rate for exports and floating rate for imports.
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Udaipur is an important industrial city of Southern Rajasthan and also a major contributor to the total export of goods worth Rs.16,000 crore from the state. Major items exported from Udaipur are marble and granite worth Rs.500 crore, chemicals worth Rs.250 crore, textiles worth Rs.150 crore, engineering goods worth Rs.90 crore, handicrafts worth Rs.15-20 crore, besides other items like agro-products, electronic and computer software, plastic products etc. |
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A view of the audience. |
