DEPB credit shall be available upto 27 March,
says Additional DGFT
|
|
|
Dr. Shyam S Agarwal, Addl. DGFT (2nd from right) addressing the meet. With him are, from left, Mr. D P Mohapatra, Addl. Secretary, Industries Deptt., Govt. of Orissa; Mr. S K Jain, Chairman, FIEO(ER); and Mr. Niranjan Mohanty, President, UCCI. |
Responding to the problem of exporters of primary steel, cement & rice on which DEPB benefits were withdrawn with effect from 27th March, 2008, Addl. DGFT Dr. Shyam S Agarwal stated that DEPB benefits for the shipments effected prior to 27th March would be available and necessary clarification to this effect would be issued shortly. Dr. Agarwal made this assurance in an interactive session with 45 exporters from Orissa on Foreign Trade Policy. The Session was organized by FIEO in association with Utkal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (UCCI) at Bhubaneswar on 21 April.
President of Seafood Association of Orissa, Mr. G. Mohanty, made a request for allowing duty free import of diesel by marine sector, a large export sector of the state. On this, Dr. Agarwal said that the 2008-09 Supplement to Foreign Trade Policy had addressed the issue to some extent and further subsidies could be considered only after some study on the subject. In the meanwhile, said Dr. Agarwal, Orissa Government may also provide domestic freight subsidy on the lines of Rajasthan Government. Nothing prevents a state government from adding to the subsidies already provided by the central government, added he.
Referring to Para 4.5 of the Handbook of Procedures 2008-09, which permits transfer of duty free material imported against advance licence from one unit to another unit of a company, Mr. Chittaranjan Mishra of Kunj Alloys asked if LTUs with units in Himachal Pradesh or Uttaranchal could be permitted to transfer imported goods under advance license after fulfillment of export obligation. Dr. Agarwal advised Mr. Mishra to refer this query to his office.
Mr. R.R. Sahoo of PJ Minerals International Pvt. Ltd. inquired under what route can chromite ore be imported for re-export after adding value and the incidence of duty both ways. Dr. Agarwal informed that import and re-export of chrome ore could be done through advance authorization license scheme, which provides for duty free import for export after value addition.
Earlier, UCCI President Mr. Niranjan Mohanty in his welcome address stated that despite being rich in mineral resources like iron ore, exporters of Orissa lacked technical knowledge of trade policy and urged that reverse buyers seller meets should be organized in the state to expose them to international market.
FIEO’s Eastern Region Chairman Mr. S. K. Jain during his address drew the attention of Dr. Agarwal towards high transaction costs of approximately 11% faced by Indian exporters as compared to their competitors in neighboring countries. Mr. Jain exuded confidence that India can achieve 5% share of global trade by 2020 through combined efforts of government & industry.
|
New DGFT office at Cuttack
Additional DGFT, Dr. S. S. Agarwal inaugurated the new office of the DGFT at Cuttack on 21st April in the presence of representatives of FIEO and other associations. The new office is located on the 5th floor of OSCI building. |
 |
|
A view of the participants |
