Southern States - Karnataka   

7 more export clusters to be set up

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE May 2. The Director General of Foreign Trade, L. Mansingh, has said that the Government will be setting up seven more export clusters as centres of excellence during the current year in addition to the existing three clusters.

Delivering the keynote address at the "Post-Exim Policy Exporters' Meet" organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations here today, Mr. Mansingh said at present there were three export clusters in Ludhiana, Tirupur, and Panipat.

There were 350 industrial clusters in the country, of which 34 had a turnover of over Rs. 1,000 crore. He said these clusters would receive the focussed attention of the Union ministries and the State Governments.

Mr. Mansingh expressed the hope that the export growth target of 12 per cent would be met during 2003-04.

The Secretary, Union Ministry of Textiles, S.B. Mohapatra, said that despite several problems, there was remarkable progress in the textile sector. He said Bangalore was not only a software centre but excelled in the textile sector too.

There was vast scope for larger exports of engineering goods and handicrafts from Bangalore. Though North India contributed the bulk of exports of handicrafts, the South too could do well if efforts were made in this direction. There was a need for simplification of labour laws to boost exports, he said.

The Additional Chief Secretary, K.K. Misra, said procedural hurdles were holding up the development of the proposed special export zone at Hassan and urged the Centre to take steps to bring expedite the project.

The FIEO President, M. Rafeeque Ahmed, S.K. Misra, Member-Customs, Central Board of Excise and Customs, and A. Sakthivel, Chairman, FIEO (Southern Region), participated in the meet.

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