Date:12/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/12/stories/2008041255291500.htm

Business

Labour-intensive exports to get fillip: chambers

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Industry on Friday welcomed the annual supplement to Foreign Trade Policy saying that the dynamic initiatives announced by the Commerce Minister will give a significant push to exports of manufactured goods, and also provide the much-needed fillip to agricultural and labour-intensive exports.

The new measures such as duty reduction under the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme, enhanced duty credit for promoting high value-added manufactured products, ‘special focus initiative’ for IT hardware, allocation of funds for IT hardware under MDA (Marketing Development Assistance) and MAI (Market Access Initiative) schemes, and establishing export promotion council for telecom, will be vital for the modernisation of the manufacturing sector and accelerating its exports, the apex chambers said in their reactions.

DEPB extension

The extension of Duty Entitlement Passbook (DEPB) scheme till May 2009 and income-tax benefits for 100 per cent export-oriented units (EOUs) for one more year are welcome steps. Similarly, additional duty credit and separate market promotion funds for toys and sports goods will substantially help the unorganised sector and boost employment generation, according to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) and the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).