The Hindu : Central aid for export promotion

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 23, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Central aid for export promotion

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM JUNE 22. The State will get Rs. 15 crores from the Centre during the current financial year under the scheme called `Assistance to States for Infrastructure Development for Exports and Allied Activities' (ASIDE).

The scheme is meant to get a higher involvement from the States in export promotion efforts by strengthening the required infrastructure, according to the Principal Secretary for Industries, John Mathai.

At an interaction with the exporters from the State's main foreign exchange earning sectors like cashew, coir, marine products and spices here today, Mr. Mathai said the Centre had allocated a total of Rs. 330 crores this year for ASIDE.

The meeting was organised to explain the salient features of the scheme to the exporters and representatives of various chambers of commerce in the State and to gather their views on what should be the priorities here.

Mr. Mathai said the next year's allocation to the State would depend on how usefully the money received this year was spent. Kerala could hope to win a higher allocation next year in view of the State's key role in exports from the country, he added.

The nodal agency for implementing ASIDE in the State is the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra). Making a presentation on the scheme, the Managing Director of Kinfra, G.C. Gopala Pillai, said there would be a State-level Export Promotion Committee to select project proposals under ASIDE.

This committee will have the Chief Secretary as its chairman. The others in the committee include the Principal Secretary for Industries, top officials from the Government's developmental agencies and representatives of the exporters' organisations.

The share of each State under ASIDE has been determined on the basis of the value of its exports last year and its contribution to the total growth in export from the country last year. Any money left unutilised under the scheme this year would be counted against the allocation to be made next year.

``This calls for quick implementation of the projects taken up under the scheme. Otherwise we will lose out on the assistance next year,'' Mr. Pillai told the meeting.

The Kochi-based Seafood Association of India and the Marine Products Export Development Authority came up with a proposal to set up a fisheries export promotion zone covering Aroor and Cherthala in Alappuzha district.

Another proposal which came up at the meeting involved the setting up of a coir park, also in Alappuzha district. Representatives of coir industry argued that such a facility to centralise value addition process would go a long way in boosting coir exports.

The representative of the Kerala State Industrial Enterprise (KSIE), a State public sector unit, proposed the expansion of its air cargo complexes in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode with the funds from ASIDE. He stressed the significance of the common facility offered by the KSIE for the exporters. He said between Rs. 3 crores and Rs. 4 crores would be required for the proposed expansion of the air cargo complexes.

Out of the total allocation of Rs. 330 crores under ASIDE, the Centre has already released Rs. 160 crores to various States. A Market Assistance Scheme has also been launched by the Centre to help the States with financial assistance for consultancy work in identifying new export markets, the meeting was informed.

Mr. Mathai said such initiatives on the part of the Centre were aimed at increasing the country's share in the global exports from the current level of just 0.6 per cent to at least one per cent over the next three or four years. The States had also been urged to put in place their own export policies based on their latent strengths.

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