Dr. Pujari urges exporters
to focus brand building
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Mr. Anup Pujari, Jt. Secretary, Ministry of Finance delivering his inaugural address. On the dais from left Mr. K Unnikrishnan, Jt. Director, FIEO (Karnataka Chapter); Mr. Walter D’Souza, Convenor, FIEO Committee on Agro Exports and AEZ; Mr. Francis Antony, Jt. DGFT, Bangalore; Mr. Badrinivas, Treasury Head, CITI Bank; and Mr. Yajnesh Pandey, Asst. Vice President,(South), CITI Bank. |
FIEO Karnataka Chapter organized a day-long Seminar in association with Citibank on "Managing Finance, Foreign Trade Policy and Indirect Taxation" at Bangalore on 18th April. More than 110 leading exporters in Karnataka participated in this Seminar.
Dr. Anup Pujari, Jt. Secretary, Export Promotion, Ministry of Finance, in his inaugural address urged the exporters to focus brand building for better unit value realization of their products. Referring to the refund of all taxes and levies incurred by the exporters as the stated objective of the Government, he said that refund of entire tax components was practically not possible as taxes were levied at various stages.
Mr. Walter D’Souza, Convenor, FIEO Committee on Agro Exports and AEZ, in his welcome address said that one of the important hurdles faced by the exporters in India today was high transaction costs. He cited the example of how exporters from Karnataka were incurring extra expenses due to unnecessary delays in clearing their shipment at JNPT,
Referring to the latest trend in exports, Mr. D’Souza said that employment generating sectors like textiles, marine, leather, handicraft, agro & processed food, cashew, plastics & linoleum products and plantation crops like tea and coffee were witnessing negative or single digit growth, which might have serious implications for employment in the country.
Mr. D’Souza expressed dissatisfaction over the methods adopted for arresting inflation like putting restrictions on export of specific products such as rice, edible oil, pulses and other agro-commodities. He said: "Exporters, who put several years of efforts to build their market, are at the verge of losing their market due to ad hoc policy announcements made by the government from time to time. The better way could have been to estimate consumption against production and augment the shortage through duty free imports."
While referring to the Annual Supplement of FTP, Mr. D’Souza lauded the initiatives taken by the Government to provide competitiveness to exports in the wake of rupee appreciation. "Measures such as extending DEPB Scheme, providing income tax benefit to EOUs, offering duty credit benefit for encouraging exports of toys & sports goods, extending interest subvention, expanding the scope of Focus Market scheme to cover 10 more countries, etc. are expected to boost exports as well as employment," he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. D’Souza expressed disappointment over non-refund of state levies and duties to exporters and urged Dr. Pujari to take initiative for early formulation of a refund mechanism.
Referring to problems of Agro industries in India, Mr. Walter said that prime importance ought to be attached to preventing huge wastage of agricultural products by addressing the issues of infrastructure. He urged that the concerned departments should interact with agro exporters and chalk out a roadmap to provide a long-term framework to the growth of agricultural exports from the country.
Mr. Francis Anthony, Jt. DGFT, Bangalore, in his address explained various initiatives taken by the Government and major changes made in the Annual Supplement of FTP. He also briefed the audience about the steps taken by his office for speedy disposal of applications and requested the exporters to meet him personally in case of any delay or difficulty.
During the technical session, Mr. G Venkatesh and Mr. Siddarth Srivastava, Advocates, Lakshmi Kumarnan & Srdharan made presentations on recent changes made in the Annual Supplement of Foreign Trade Policy, Indirect Taxation and Service Tax related issues. Experts from Citibank spoke on the currency movements and various funding options available for the exporters.
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A view of the participants. |
