The Duty Entitlement Passbook Scheme (DEPB) scheme was critical for the growth of engineering exports and should be extended beyond June 30, 2011.
Engineering exports grew by over 109 per cent as on April 2011, against same period last year and the growth was primarily fuelled by the DEPB scheme, according to Mr Aman Chadha, Chairman, EEPC (Engineering Export Promotion Council) India.
EEPC India chief has therefore urged the Union Government for the continuation of the scheme for the whole of policy period 2009-14. The Council has also carried out a detailed analysis to study the benefits of the scheme on engineering exporters.
The Council, Mr Chadha said, had done a detailed survey of its leading exporters and the results showed possibility of a considerable drop in engineering exports on the withdrawal of the scheme.
“The discontinuation of the scheme is linked to introduction of GST in the country, however, as GST is unlikely to be introduced before June 2012, the major reason for discontinuation of DEPB does not hold valid in today's scenario,” Mr Chadha said.