Our Bureau

New Delhi , June 20

CORPORATE India has pitched for a regulatory framework that would ensure time-bound clearances besides allowing self-certification for various statutory obligations concerning exports.

Industry captains told the first meeting of the reconstituted Board of Trade that such an approach would encourage foreign direct investments into the country and thereby help boost exports.

"Vigorous promotion of exports requires substantially higher inflows of FDI. To make India a more attractive destination for investment, we need regulatory reforms to mitigate problem of delays in clearances," Mr Onkar Kanwar, President, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and industry (FICCI), said.

He suggested that the Government should create a single agency or a special purpose vehicle that can get all necessary clearances and approvals for a particular project from both Central and State Governments and then put the project for open competitive bidding. Investors are not forthcoming for infrastructure projects on account of delays of procuring multi-agency clearances and approvals.

Mr Kanwar highlighted that over half of global trade is intra-firm trade and that India has inherent advantages to become the leading hub for outsourcing of manufactured goods and services.

The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India President, Mr Mahendra Sanghi, recommended that exporters be excluded from the purview of value-added tax (VAT). He also suggested that labour laws in the current form should not be made applicable to special economic zone units.

On VAT, Mr Sanghi said VAT should not be imposed on raw materials purchased for manufacture of export products.

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