Ludhiana, Dec 24 (KNN) Chamber of Industrial & Commercial Undertakings (CICU) in association with Punjab National Bank (PNB) organized a program on “Importer-Exporter meet” where several issues of the of the import & export like Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), Pending Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) refunds, steep hike in raw material prices, liquidity crunch and other relevant issues were discussed.

S Upkar Singh Ahuja, President, CICU addressed all the dignitaries and suggested that export of steel should be banned for 6 Month.

''Industry is in a very pathetic situation and the government should provide some relief by giving industry special packages. IGST refund should be given to the exporters timely so that they can survive,'' said Pankaj Sharma, General Secretary, CICU.

A S Ranga, Commissioner of Customs, Ludhiana highlighted about the beneficial schemes like MEIS, SEIS, Export Incentives, Duty Exemption/Remission Schemes, Export Promotion Capital Goods Schemes. He also assured all types of help to exporters and appreciated the working of CICU during Lockdown due to COVID.

Dr Manjeet Bhatoya, Dy. DGFT, Ludhiana said that there are many schemes of DGFT and Importer and exporter must take optimum use of these schemes.

''All the issues will be taken up with higher authority and will be resolved soon,'' she assured.

Devendra Kumar Gupta, Zonal Manager, PNB, Ludhiana along with their team shared a presentation about the services offered by the Bank to the Customers like Service related to Forex business, Simplified portal for customers, Online Application facility for Export Finance, New Forex Platform to sell dollar at best price. They also highlighted that PNB has set up a dedicated customer care Desk to resolve the issues of businessmen more effectively.

During the quarries session, Devendra Kumar Gupta, Zonal Manager, PNB, Ludhiana assured that all the points will be taken and will be resolved soon.

Ram Lubhaya, Convener and Sarvjit Singh, Co-convener of CICU Export Promotion Committee also shared their issues/suggestions to DGFT and Customs. They also said that industry is suffering due to non-releases of MEIS and IGST refund.

Members present in the programme also requested DGFT to release MEIS early and take-up the matter with the government.