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New Foreign Trade Policy to Give fillip to Manufacturing, Economy |
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PUDUCHERRY:The focus of the new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-2020 is to support both the manufacturing and services sectors, with special emphasis on improving the “Ease of doing Business”, said R Sampath Kumar, Assistant Director General of Foreign Trade, Chennai, here on Thursday.
Addressing the session on the new trade police, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said the new policy supports ‘Make in India’ through measures to encourage procurement of capital goods from indigenous manufacturers under Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) Scheme by reducing Export Obligation (EO) by 25 per cent.
The focus is to promote the domestic capital goods manufacturing industry and enable them to develop their productive capacities for both local and global consumption. Further, it is particularly rewarding under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS )for export items with high domestic content and value addition, he said.
Stressing Indian companies would like to be known for its world class products, he said companies should concentrate on quality standards and produce zero defect products.
“Brand India must be synonymous with quality and reliability. In an increasingly competitive world, branding plays an indispensable role in global positioning,” he said.
The DGFT official of the Chennai regional office said branding campaigns are being planned for promoting exports from sectors such as services, pharmaceuticals, plantations and engineering as well as of commodities and services in which India has traditional strengths, such as handicrafts and yoga.
Revealing that one of the major objectives of the FTP is to move towards paperless working in a 24x7 environment, he said that e-commerce exports of employment generating sectors have been supported under the MEIS through courier or foreign post offices.
Referring to e-Commerce, Sampath Kumar said goods falling in the category of handloom products, books/periodicals, leather footwear, toys and customised fashion garments, having Free on Board (FOB) value up to `25,000 per consignment (finalised using e-Commerce platform) shall be eligible for benefits under FTP. Such goods can be exported in manual mode through Foreign Post Offices at New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, he added.
As part of simplification of procedures/ processes in the new policy, he said, under Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme, obtaining and submitting a certificate from an independent Chartered Engineer, confirming the use of spares, tools, refractory and catalysts imported for final redemption of EPCG authorisations has been dispensed with.
Pointing that market diversification is a key aspect of the policy, Sampath Kumar said that in future when we enter into various forms of trade agreements, we will be looking for promising markets and sources of critical inputs.
“To our traditional markets in the developed world we will focus on exporting products with a higher value addition, supplying high quality inputs for the manufacturing sector in these markets and optimising applied customs duties on inputs for India’s manufacturing sector. This will strengthen backward manufacturing linkages which are vital for India’s participation in Global Value Chains.
Tamilvendan, IRS, Deputy Commissioner, said that the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) facility in Puducherry was launched at Sattva Inland Container Depot (ICD) Pullichapallam.
Source : newindianexpress.com
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