New Delhi, Aug 6 (KNN)  The government is planning to set up an Export Promotion Mission as announced in the Budget 2014-15, which is aimed at preparing a comprehensive policy for promoting foreign trade.  It has also taken various measures to ease norms for exporters.

The move will involve deeper involvement of the States in achieving targets to be fixed under the foreign trade Policy, said Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman in the Rajya Sabha today.

Meanwhile, Sitharaman also informed Parliament that increasing exports in specific products and providing necessary thrust by way of strategy is a continuous process through market study initiatives. Issues relating to tariff/non-tariff barriers are actively taken up during the bilateral meetings and also under the Institutional dialogues and accordingly Foreign Trade Agreement (FTA) are signed between countries. The ongoing trade procedures and infrastructure are reviewed through Trade Policy Review regularly.

She said that the Government is engaged in negotiating a WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation in terms of the modalities contained in the Ministerial Decision on 7th December 2013.

“The ongoing WTO negotiations on Trade Facilitation (TF) seek to develop a set of multilateral trade rules that aim to simplify, modernize and harmonize trade procedure with a view to ensure smooth movement of import, export and transit of goods across the international borders,” she said.

The Foreign Trade Policy provides certain incentives to compensate for high transport costs and offset other disadvantages with a view to enhance exports. Various incentives are supported through the different schemes under Foreign Trade Policy like Vishesh Krishi and Gram Udyog Yojana (VKGUY), Focus Market Scheme, Market Linked Focus Product Scheme and Focus Product Scheme. Apart from above various Industry and Trade Bodies are given support for participation in Buyer Seller Meets (BSMs), Trade fairs and exhibitions in various countries under Market Access Initiative (MAI) scheme.

The Minister said that the two per cent Interest Subvention Scheme, which was available for certain export sectors viz. Handicrafts, Carpet, Handlooms, SMEs, Readymade Garments, Processed Agriculture Products and Toys, was widened to include 134 tariff lines of Engineering Sector with effect from 1st January, 2013.  The government has also enhanced the rate of Interest Subvention under Interest Subvention Scheme from 2 per cent to 3 per cent with effect from 1.8.2013.

To reduce time for clearance at ports, CBEC has started 24x7 customs clearance with effect from 1st September 2012 at Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai Air Cargo Complexes.

Further, 24x7 customs clearance facilities are available at Chennai, JNPT, Kandla and Kolkata Seaports in respect of the following categories of imports and exports: Bills of Entry where no examination and assessment is required and (i) Factory stuffed export containers and export consignment covered by Free Shipping Bills; (ii) This facility was further extended to Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Kolkata, Cochin, Calicut, Coimbatore, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Nasik, Vishakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram Air cargo complexes with effect from 1.6.2013, the Minister informed.  (KNN/ES)