However, in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, Scindia assured that the government would not withdraw the stimulus for exporters till the recovery strengthens. In fact it may give additional incentives to certain sectors including engineering, gems and jewellery, which may be rolled out by January February.

Further, he said that the government will be reviewing the export situation report by December-end.

Below is a verbatim transcript of the interview. Also watch the video.<center></center>

Q: Will export sops continue?
A: We were very apprehensive and we were very careful in terms of modulating the steps that we took. Needless to say that the situation was not only grim it was alarming. The fact that exports were reducing by 39% month-on-month compared to last year. The year-on-year (YoY) figures have improved considerably from a low of close to USD 10 billion a month in April-May of this fiscal - you are now seeing resurgence in the normal value of exports upto close to USD 13-14 billion.

What is heartening to note - this is something that I had taken the boldness of taking a foot forward - is also the percentage numbers are reducing in terms of negativity from minus 39% to single digits of 6.6%.

Last month has been about USD 13.5 billion odd. We have posted to close to USD 90 billion in the first seven months of this fiscal. To reach a target of close to USD 160-165 billion, we need to make sure that we grow at a clip of 12% for the balance five months at about USD 14 billion a month to reach USD 165 billion.

Source: www.moneycontrol.com Won't curb exporter sops till recovery strengthen: Scindia

It's unlikely that the SEZ Act which was promulgated three years ago, would undergo even minor changes any time soon. Minister of state for commerce and industry Jyotiraditya Scindia feels that the Centre's SEZ policy is a success in creating 2.5 lakh jobs during the last three years, and the Act should be given some more time before any verdict is pronounced. In a free-wheeling interview with ET on the current status of SEZs and the road ahead, the minister said that a few isolated instances of developers wishing to get out can't undermine the success of the SEZ story in India. Some excerpts:

The big rush for special economic zones is over now. In fact, some developers want to get out of them. How do you rate the policy?
We have a good number of SEZs in the country and the number is growing. We have over 100 operational SEZs now. The revenue in these zones was about Rs 100,000 crore last fiscal year, and if we go by the revenue figure of the first six months of the current year, it should surpass last year's. Also, SEZs have created over 2.5 lakh jobs during the last three years.

But the current slowdown has made major impact on the growth of these zones?
No. The good thing about SEZs is that the global slowdown has not impacted them much. Exports are under pressure, but there have been good signs too. SEZs are doing well, and there is no need to go tinkering with the Act. Let's give some more time to the Act which was promulgated only three years ago.

But quite a few SEZ developers now want to get out it. That's quite a serious matter.

They are really a very small in number. And that too, it was more sector specific. The developers are investing in those zones. So far as SEZs in Goa are concerned, I won't like to comment as the matter is sub-judice.

Source: Economic Times By Shantanu Nandan Sharma 'State should now aggressively take up SEZ cause'

"I don't think it (impact of Dubai crisis) should be much (on our exports)," Scindia said on the sidelines of a International Chromium Development Association meet here.

He, however said, steps should be taken to ward off any likely impact on India's exports to the middle east countries.

"I think we need to take the required steps to make sure it does not impact us," he said.

Scindia said the government would announce measures to help the labour intensive export sectors to prop up the country's outward shipments that are on a downslide since October 2008.

"During the year 2009, (up to November), 238 proposals were received," Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya M Scindia said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Out of the 238 proposals, the government has approved 190, while 13 were rejected and 6 were withdrawn or closed. Around 29 proposals are either listed for consideration or to be listed in the fourth session, the minister added.

During the last three years, Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has received a total of 1,102 FDI proposals, out of which 286 were received in 2006, 393 in 2007 and 424 in 2008, he added.

Citing a study instituted by the government through the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) titled "Growth linkages of FDI in India", the minister said the country has received around $90 billion during April 2000 to March 2009.

The sectors that cornered the major portion of the FDI inflow are -- services, telecom; real estate; construction; automobile; power; metallurgical industries; petroleum and natural gas and chemicals among others.

Mauritius was the main source, followed by Singapore, the US, the UK, the Netherlands and Japan.

Scindia identified engineering as a key sector that would require extra support from the government. "There are sectors like engineering that require robust support, so we will be providing that," he said.

The commerce ministry will be carrying out an internal analysis on sectors like textile and gems & jewellery and the impact of stimulus packages announced earlier. "We will be providing support, post our analysis, which will be completed by early December," Scindia said.

He said that though sectors like gems & jewellery were hit hard during the peak of the global slowdown, there were some signs of a turnaround. "There is improvement in areas like jewellery, but there are other sectors like engineering that require support," he added.

He, however, did not give any details on the nature of stimulus package that the government may come up with.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said that the government will look to wind down the stimulus package by next year. Scindia said that an appropriate decision on the issue will be taken after the ongoing financial year.

In the Foreign Trade Policy unveiled in August this year, a slew of measures were taken to support export-oriented sectors such as gems & jewellery, leather products and handicraft. Some of them included extension of sops until March 2011, tax refund scheme for jewellery sector and re-export of unused leather subject to payment of 50 per cent duty liability.

"Coffee growers have been going through very difficult times, so debt relief is something we are currently considering for small coffee growers," he added.

Scindia, however, did not mention the corpus of the fund.

A package for the tea industry has already been announced.

"We have given close to Rs.600 crore to the Tea Board over the Five-Year Plan (ending 2012) for technological upgrade of tea plantation, special purpose tea fund for rejuvenation and replantation, (and) marketing across the board," the minister said.

Along with debt relief, Scindia said issues pertaining to social costs borne by tea companies would be addressed through another package.

"There are other issues that need to be addressed like social cost. It is within our ambit and we are looking into it," he added.

Social costs include construction of houses, maintenance, drinking water facility, sanitation and medical facility for workers in the plantation sectors.

According to a recent study done by the Indian Tea Association that represents tea plantation companies, social cost accounts for Rs.7 for every kg of tea produc

"A U shaped formation is being seen (and) in my opinion exports are likely to enter the positive territory by December-January," Scindia told reporters at the sidelines of the 48th Annual Session of Cement Manufacturers' Association here.

Scindia said exports were increasing on a monthly basis. The country's outward shipments increased to USD 14.2 billion in August from USD 10.7 billion in April.

The downslide was also arrested to 19.4 percentage points in August from 33.2 per cent in April as the demand for merchandise picked up in global markets ahead of Christmas.

The exports data for September would be announced next month.

For the April-August period of the current fiscal, the shipments dropped by 31 per cent to USD 64.12 billion.

The government has announced several sops for exporters who contribute about 17 per cent to the country's gross domestic product. These included interest subsidy of two per cent on bank finance.

"Industrialisation has virtually stopped in Madhya Pradesh as neither any ground work was done by the concerned authorities nor any efforts were made by them to provide facilities to investors at one-stop-shop for everything," Scindia told reporters yesterday.

Mere investors meet and signing of Memorandum of Understanding will not serve the purpose. Industrialization will take place only when everything is provided to the investor in a one-stop-shop, Scindia said.

Referring to the Special Economic Zone policy and the problems of land acquisition, he said, nowhere in the SEZ policy it was written that government will have to acquire land for it.

In fact it should be done directly between the land owner and the investors on the prevailing market-determined prices.

"Also, the SEZ policy does not say that the state governments should acquire land. There would be no problem the day the state governments will leave it to the investor who should contact the owner of the land to be acquired directly and pay him as per the prevalent market rate."

Scindia said that Madhya Pradesh lags far behind in development for want of execution of ideas.

"There is no dearth of ideas but they are of no use till they are executed properly. We hear of investor meets being organised every now and then in various cities of the state but not a single project has come up so far - only because there has been no proper follow-up by the state government," he said.

There are several projects, like Guna-Etawah Railway line project, which have been cleared by the central government but have remained incomplete for years as the state government has not executed them, he said.

In a letter to the Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Scindia, who is MP from here demanded that a survey of the rain and pests affected farmers should be conducted immediately to provide relief to them as per the revenue book rules.

Scindia also urged the state government to provide 10 hours of uninterrupted power to the farmers, subsidised seeds and fertilisers and fodder for animals and loans on minimum rate of interest for the rabi crops.