The Union Government is considering setting up, State level export promotion commissions, which will work with the Centre and provide fresh stimulus to the exporters in the country, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.

He was addressing the audience at the foundation laying ceremony of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Navi Mumbai.

Modi said that these commissions will study the problems of exporters and suggest solutions. Advice would be provided to them in areas of designing, packaging and product innovation, he said.

For driving exports, a number of industries have their own export promotion councils but they are controlled by industry members.

He also announced on the occasion the development of three satellite dry ports, which will feed JNPT with cargo from sea and rail routes and ease congestion on road network. Cargo at Surat dry port would be sent to JNPT by small ships, while goods from Aurangabad and Wardha dry port in Maharashtra would be sent to JNPT for further exports using rail network.

Port led Development.

Modi said global trade is now driven by sea transport therefore coastal states and ports would be developed under the Sagar Mala project, which give a flip to port development and make them hubs of economic prosperity,

From port development, the country needs to move to port led development, in which ports will have their own SEZs, road, rail and air connectivity, he said.

Drawing attention to the problems of shipping companies, Modi said that in many companies whole department are dedicated for filling up government forms, which are very cumbersome. Yearly companies have to renew their licences, which is a very troublesome process therefore the Centre has decided to award lifetime licences, he said.

He added that India’s market share in global ship building business is minuscule, where as a small country such as South Korea is controlling 40 per cent of the global market. Indian companies can scale up and participate in this due to the skilled manpower available in the country.

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