Commerce Secy hopeful of achieving export target

Ayan Pramanik Updated - July 26, 2012 at 08:41 PM.

The Union Commerce Secretary, Mr S.R. Rao, on Thursday expressed hope that India could achieve the 20 per cent targeted export growth this fiscal.

April’s disappointing 3.2 per cent growth notwithstanding; the Government was expecting an improvement during the course of the year, mainly through value-added products.

Mr Rao, after a meeting with the Federation of Indian Export Organisations members here, said the focused products have started giving dividends over the last couple of months. “We have started getting orders from Europe,” Mr Rao added.

Exports of pharmaceuticals, chemicals and textiles were showing signs of picking up, he said. The Government was focussing on agro products exports.

SEZ

The Centre would revise the existing special economic zone rules, Mr Rao said. This revision is expected to come out in the next three to four weeks, he added.

“We are now trying to remove irritants from the current SEZ policy,” Mr Rao said.

The Ministry was also planning to bring in more rules to plug revenue leakage. “We are trying to broad-base all the norms and reduce transaction cost, both for the Government and the investors,” he added.

ayan.pramanik@thehindu.co.in

Published on July 26, 2012 11:09