Exports of as many as 158 hi-tech products from sectors such as engineering and electronics will get benefit under the Focus Product Scheme (FPS), a move which will help in boosting the country’s shipments.
The products covered under FPS are entitled for 2 per cent duty credit scrip and such benefits under the scheme will be available from August 15 this year.
The decision to incentivise exports of high tech products was announced by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on April 18 during the Foreign Trade policy.
“It has been decided to include 158 products under FPS...Items from engineering, electronics, the chemical and pharma sector have been covered under this list. Such benefits will be admissible for exports made wieth effect from August 15,” an official statement said today.
The detailed list will be separately notified by the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
To study the list of items eligible for such benefit, a task force was set up under the Chairmanship of Additional Secretary in Department of Commerce Rajiv Kher.
The objective of the FPS is to promote export of products which have high export intensity, employment potential, so as to offset infrastructural inefficiencies and other associated costs involved in the marketing of these products.
The step will help in increasing India’s exports, which has entered the negative zone after a gap of four months, recording a contraction of 1.1 per cent in May and leading to a trade deficit of $20.1 billion, the highest in the last seven months.
Welcoming the move, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Rafeeque Ahmed said it would definitely give a push to export growth at this difficult time.
“India has the capability of producing hi-tech products of international quality but so far has been lagging behind in this field and such support from the Government will help exporters find the markets for those products,” he said.