New Delhi, Mar 25 (PTI) In order to give relief to exporters hit by the global financial crisis, the Reserve Bank today extended interest subsidy for them for six months up to September 30.
"It has been decided to extend the interest subvention of 2 per cent on export credit for a further period of six months i.E. From April 1, 2009 till September 30, 2009 (to labour- intensive sectors like gems and jewellery)...," RBI said in a notification.
The decision follows the announcement made by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the interim budget that the scheme for providing concessional credit to exporters be extended till September 30.
The interest subsidy scheme was to end on March 31.
After posting a handsome growth of over 30 per cent in the first six months of the current fiscal, India's exports growth entered into negative zone and dipped by 12.1 per cent in October. Since then, exports are on down-slide and it dipped by an estimated 21 per cent in February.
The government has revised the exports target for 2008- 09 from USD 200 billion to USD 175 billion in view of slowdown in the global economy.
Source : Press Trust Of India