The minister informed that the Central Government is implementing three sub-schemes under Indian Leather Development Programme (ILDP) during the 11th Five Year Plan to meet the requirement of manpower in the leather industry.

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"The government is implementing a sub-scheme, "Integrated Development of Leather Sector" (IDLS) with an outlay of Rs. 253.43 crore  under ILDP during the 11th Five Year Plan period," release said.

Under the sub-scheme, assistance are provided to leather units in the form of investment grant at a rate of 30% for Small Scale Industries (SSI) and 20% for non-SSI upto Rs. 50 lakh. Assistance above Rs 50 lakhs is provided at a rate of 20% within ceiling of Rs. 2 crore.

Testing facilities for the Leather Industry exist at Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai and its Regional Centres at Jallandhar, Kolkata and Kanpur; Footwear Design and Development Institute at Noida and Fursatganj; and Testing Centre in the Footwear Component  Park at Chennai.

For addressing the environmental issues of the Leather Industry, the Central Government is implementing a sub-scheme "Environment Initiatives" with an outlay of Rs. 200 crore under ILDP during the 11th Five Year Plan period.

"After a review of the working of the various incentives, a decision for any kind of change in the stimulus measures for the sectors coming out from the impact of global financial meltdown will be taken after March 31," Scindia told reporters in New Delhi.

India's merchandise exports have been showing signs of recovery for the third straight month after declining 13 successive months since October 2008 on account of the global economic meltdown.

But while some sectors like tobacco, spices, man-made yarn, gems, chemicals and jewellery have shown satisfactory export growth in the past few months, textiles, handicrafts, carpet, engineering goods are still reeling under the impact of global crisis.

The government had provided over Rs. 1.80 lakh crore as part of three stimulus packages to prop up the economy against global downturn. Also, the Commerce Ministry had given enhanced assistance for exploring new markets to exporters and extension of duty refund scheme till December 2010, besides other sops.

Source: smetimes.tradeindia.com Govt likely to reshuffle exports stimulus: Scindia

"A decision for any kind of change in stimulus measures for the sectors coming out from the impact of the global financial meltdown will be taken after 31 March," minister of state for commerce and industry Jyotiraditya Scindia told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday, after a function organised by Assocham.

While tobacco, spices, man-made yarn, gems, chemicals and jewellery have shown satisfactory export growth in the past few months, textiles, handicrafts, carpet and engineering goods are still reeling under the impact of the global crisis, he said.

The ministry had given enhanced assistance to exporters to explore new markets and an extension of duty refund scheme till December 2010, besides other sops.

On budget expectations, Scindia said he had requested finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to at least retain the allocation of Rs3,652 crore for the ministry, as was done in the previous year.

After declining for 13 straight months, exports grew 18.2 per cent in November. Growth stood at 9.3 per cent and 11.5 per cent in December and January respectively.

"...decision for any kind of change in the stimulus measures for the sectors coming out from the impact of global financial meltdown will be taken after March 31," Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia said at an Assocham function.

While tobacco, spices, man-made yarn, gems, chemicals and jewellery have shown satisfactory export growth in the past few months, textiles, handicrafts, carpet, engineering goods are still reeling under the impact of global crisis.

The Ministry had given enhanced assistance for exploring new markets to exporters and extension of duty refund scheme till December 2010, besides other sops.

Source: beta.profit.ndtv.com Stimulus reshuffle after review in April

Scindia also discussed possibilities of developing further cooperation in high tech areas including IT, Bio-technology, and Nano technology to take advantage of mutual core competencies. The two sides also exchanged views on the global challenge posed by terrorism and ongoing cooperation between the two countries in the area of homeland security. Both the leaders agreed to emphasise on cooperation in the application of science & technology particularly in areas related to agriculture and water management.

Later Scindia met Israeli Minister of Industry, Trade & Labour Benjamin Ben-Eliezer.The Minister underlined the fact that R&D constitutes a fundamental basis for core competence in multiple industrial areas for both countries. Scindia proposed that a practical step to enhance high tech cooperation would be to set up a Government to Government joint technology incubator initiative in India with representation from both sides including the private sector.

He also met leading Israeli industrialists to discuss promotion of trade and commerce between the two countries and delivered a Keynote Address on "Indian Economy in the Next Decade - an Engine for Growth" at a seminar jointly organised by the Israeli Export and International Cooperation Institute and the Embassy of India.

The bilateral trade figure for the last fiscal (2008-09) was US $ 3.55 billion with exports from India amounting to US $ 1.5 and imports to India amounting to US$ 2.09 billion.  Bilateral trade increased at a compound annual growth rate of 15 percent over the last five years.

"We have augured to the ministry of finance that those incentive schemes which relate to commerce and industry should be carried on for slightly longer period," he told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

"Specifically we have looked at three-four areas in terms of getting cheaper dollar credit for exporters, extending the EoU (Export Oriented Units) benefits, extending the interest subvention scheme and we are in consultation with the ministry of finance. It is our fervent hope that the finance ministry will accede to our request," he said.

The minister earlier said India has a target of achieving $200 billion merchandise exports for the next two fiscals.

Source: Thaindian.com Commerce ministry hopes export stimulus to stay for some more time

"We have requested the finance minister for cheaper dollar credit at 1% above Libor, currently at 3.5%," Scindia said. This credit would be extended to those exporting sectors that have become vulnerable after the meltdown. Although he did not mention the sectors for which the commerce ministry wanted cheaper credit, he said the ministry has focused on six verticals like agriculture, engineering, and leather to reduce cost of transactions for exports.

The ministry, he said, has set up a committee to work on reducing cost of transaction. "I expect to see some impact of this initiative within six months," Scindia said.

The ministry, in consultation with Infosys, would launch two portals--e-Bills and e Trade--by August. These portals would function as a one-stop solution to all formalities regarding foreign trade, which down the line would help in reducing cost of transaction, Scindia said. To start with, these portals would be rolled out in five capital cities of the country, he added. Scindia said his ministry has asked the finance ministry to continue with the stimulus for exports and extend the interest subvention scheme for a longer period as it has just started showing results. Foreign trade went up by 9.4% in January this year after a longstanding dip since April 2009.

The change in geographical focus has brought about this growth coupled with the effects of stimulus.

Trade in the next three years would go up by 4.6% with the developing countries against 1.2% with the developed ones. Currently, the US and European Union accounts for 33% of India's total trade, which has to be brought down by changing geographical focus, Scindia said.

"There is a demand for organic spices in the world. Fortunately, more than 80% of Indian spices are made organically. Growing demand for natural color and flavour is opening doors for chilly and turmeric. Our thrust is to develop better products and organic farming methods," Scindia said after inaugurating the World Spice Congress in the capital on Wednesday.

India has been the largest producer and exporter of spices in the world, exporting 5 million tonne spices across 63 varieties. Scindia said spice growers largely depend on internal prices and the industry has reached a stage where the spice growers and producers are able to command their own prices in the international market.

"60% of our exports are in the form of value added products. Our goal is to increase the export, quality and production," he added.

Source: Financial Express Need to invest in branding, packaging spices: Scindia

The four-member committee held its first meeting on January 28. "The minister indicated at the meeting that there is a need to bring in change in the existing logo and make it a more contemporary one," said Bharat Arya, chief executive officer of JV Gokal & Co and a member of the task force.

Adman Piyush Pandey, who was a tea taster in Kolkata before joining Ogilvy & Mather India in 1982, is expected to help the commerce ministry and Tea Board of India in this exercise.

Sources say that the minister feels the new logo should be indicative of the country as well like the lion logo, the Sri Lankans use for their tea. In case of the neighbouring country ofcourse, the lion occupies its pride of place in the national flag. The Indian national flag in contrast has the more sedate Ashoka Chakra at the centre and the industry isn't quite sure how that can help the tea cause. The Indian tiger can ofcourse be a match for the Sri Lankan lion if push comes to a shove and some light-hearted banter in the course of having brainstorming sessions on the ideal logo, in tea rooms around Kolkata also has it that the peacock can also be made to sip tea, if beauty is to be portrayed quite indicatively !

Source: Economic Times Indian tea to get new look, logo

When the young MP from Guna was made a junior minister for communication and IT during the final year of the last UPA regime, he was in a hurry to make a mark in the government. Those were uncertain days for all Congressmen as political pundits had predicted an early fall of the UPA government, thanks to the Indo-US nuke deal. His own ministry was preoccupied with issues such as 3G and number portability. Wasting no time, Scindia chose to devote his time and energy for rebranding India's postal department which remained a laggard for decades post Independence.

"I was passionate about it. Have you been to Lodhi Market post office sometime recently? The very look and feel of the place has changed altogether," he says with a sense of pride and satisfaction. Now in Udyog Bhawan, Scindia wants to bring in the same rigour and passion to transform the way exports take place and also to rebrand Indian tea for global customers. There are plans even to open branded tea outlets around the world. And Scindia is adopting the same formula which he had deployed while rebranding India Post and gained instant dividends.

SK Sinha, chief general manager of Postal Life Insurance, narrates how Scindia forced senior postal officers to personally sit at the post offices to improve services. "The modernisation of post offices was taken up on a mission mode. Unlike many other government programmes, there were strict deadlines and Scindia held regular meetings with senior officials to ensure it's on track. The concept of `change leaders' was introduced in a government set-up. The faster delivery was made a key component of the mission, and tolerance level was reduced to less than 5%," he says.

If rebranding of India Post is considered a benchmark, the bigger challenge that Scindia faces today is whether he would be able to match hiswork in the commerce ministry with that of his earlier tenure. Senior officials in the ministry, who did not wish to be named, say that Scindia's major handicap is lack of freedom within the ministry. As a junior minister, his hands are tied and he could do very little on his own to make a difference to Indian exporters or tea industry. However, Scindia, who along with other ministers of state held a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on work allocation, would not like to talk on this subject.

Source: Economic Times By Shantanu Nandan Sharma Jyotiraditya Scindia: Man who revived the Indian Postal system