To help India maximise the benefits from the on-going tariff war between the US and China, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has asked exporters to flag concerns related to availability of land and labour, setting up of common effluent treatment plants, cluster development and necessary logistics support in ports, airports and customs.
“The Ministry will then be able to iron out the issues impeding India’s exports and facilitate the exporters to take maximum benefit from the tariff escalation between the US and China,” Goyal said addressing an interactive session was organised in New Delhi on Wednesday by the Commerce & Industry Ministry on emerging opportunities to enlarge India’s exports to US and China.
The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), in its presentation, pointed out that India’s success to get the best out of the tariff war would depend on how quickly exporters could add to their capacity.
One of the suggestions for creating capacity made by exporters is to allow excess capacity in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to used by permitting the provision of ‘plug and play’ facility. This will help exporters grab the opportunity provided by tariff war as industry may not want to invest to create permanent facilities to increase production as duration and magnitude of additional tariff itself is uncertain, the Federation proposed.
Last month, the Department of Commerce identified and shared with exporters and other stakeholders, specific lines where the US would lose competitiveness in China and India has an export potential, and encouraged them to seize this opportunity. Several B2B meetings with Chinese buyers were facilitated through the Indian Embassy in Beijing in addition to inviting Chinese grape buyers to visit Indian grape farms and related units.
“A section of the industry has pointed out that some of the conditions like requirements of local experience, are limiting their participation in the Chinese procurement process. The Indian government has been engaging with the relevant Chinese government entities to ensure that Indian companies get market access for their products. Such issues are also discussed in the bilateral meetings from time to time to find solutions to any such restrictions in market access,” according to an official release.