"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

"Subsidy is a matter of consideration, give me a little bit of time", Scindia said after inaugurating the rubber clinic, the distance diagnostic information system of Rubber Board here today.

Scindia said paucity of funds was not the problem but the declared projects were not being implemented `fruitfully'

He urged growers to improve quality by utilising new varieties of clones which are able to face problems like climate change and harmful pests.

Of the total production, he said 78 per cent of rubber was produced in Kerala.

"Accurate and timely diagnosis of diseases and adoption of suitable control measures is essential for a crop like rubber to maintain and improve productivity, thereby increasing net income of the farmers," Rubber Board Chairman Sajan Peter said.

The rubber clinic helps farmers in crop disease management. It helps in rapid diagnosis and identification of pests and diseases of rubber.

The commerce and industry ministry will unveil a stimulus package within the next few days for select export sectors, which continue to suffer even as the overall export situation has shown signs of revival.

The incentives would only be meant for those sectors that have failed to show significant improvement despite sops from the government earlier.

BREATHER ON ANVIL

• Stimulus to be for the select export sectors that continue to suffer even as the overall export situation has shown signs of revival

• The govt had initiated a sectoral review in Nov to assess the impact of stimulus measures to exporters

• According to ministry officials, incentives could be provided to sectors like textile, leather, handicrafts, cotton yarn, jute, minerals and fruit and vegetables

• Sops would be in the form of extension of some of the benefit schemes or increasing duty drawback rates

• Benefits under the Focus Products Scheme and Focus Market Scheme and greater support through market development assistance could be provided

"The sectoral review exercise is over. We have made an assessment and we will soon announce incentives for those sectors which continue to lag and suffer because of demand recessionary conditions notwithstanding what has happened in the last 14 months. For those sectors, we will provide an extra helping hand," Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar told Business Standard.

Source: Business-standard Govt to announce stimulus for select exporters soon

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.