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The annual supplement to foreign trade policy (FTP) 2009-14 should help exports register nominal growth from September.
Walter D’Souza, chairman of FIEO (Federation of Indian Export Organisations), Southern Region, said this while inaugurating an exporters’ meet, jointly organised by FIEO and Karnataka Bank here on Wednesday evening.
The supplement to FTP was released in June this year. Had it been released three months earlier, probably exports would have already been on a nominal growth path, he said.
“However, we expect that the nominal growth would come from September,” he said, adding that policy planning well in advance will help the export sector go a long way.
Help to exporters
He said that FIEO has taken steps to help small exporters. In this regard, FIEO has set up a warehousing facility at Sharjah.
Under this, 20 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit, which is a unit to measure container cargo) space is given for exporters for Rs 2.25 lakh a year. Office space is given for Rs 95,000 a year.
D’Souza said that the facility, which was launched a few months ago, was full in three months. He said FIEO is finalising a larger space in Dubai. This will help the exporters in the long run.
Labour shortage
Quoting government figures, he said the government has spent Rs 1.26 lakh crore on national rural employment scheme till now. There is a greater imbalance in labour demand and supply in some States.
Exporters are complaining that they are not getting enough labour.
“So we are proposing to the government that a part of that amount could be deployed for building houses for such labours, who are migrating from some States in search of jobs in other States,” D’Souza said, adding that the proposal will be accepted.
Bank credit
Referring to the decline in export credit to net bank credit of the Indian banking system in the past one decade, he said it has come down by almost 50 per cent.
That shows banks have some restrictions in terms of extending loans in foreign currencies. This decline will have repercussions on all the sectors, he added.
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