STANDING COMMITTEE FOR PROMOTION OF EXPORTS (SHIPPING)
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Context - Recently the 51st Session of the Standing Committee for Promotion of Exports (Shipping) was held in New Delhi.
Details
- The Committee was chaired by the Special Secretary of the Logistics Division, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
- The session witnessed active participation from industrial organisations and also has representation from all major ports of India.
- The main objective of the session was to focus on;
- Reforming the departmental working structure.
- Improving regulatory interfaces.
- Reducing gaps in regulatory architecture.
- Overcome any procedural, procedure, or performance bottlenecks that may restrict the export potential of the country.
- In the session, all the issues were categorized into three major categories;
- Procedural issues.
- Issues impacting logistics costs.
- Technology related issues to improve EXIM efficiency.
- The government agreed to examine issues faced by trade associations to reduce logistics costs wherever practicable to make Indian exports more competitive globally.
- It was suggested to adopt Port Community Systems to;
- Reduce the turnaround time of Indian ports.
- Reduce logistics costs for Indian traders.
- Improve India’s competitiveness globally.
Steps by Government to boost India’s export:
- Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-20 was launched to rationalize the export promotion schemes and also introduced two new schemes;
- Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) for improving the export of goods.
- Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) for increasing exports of services.
- A new Logistics Division was created in the Department of Commerce for the integrated development of the logistics sector.
- Interest Equalization Scheme on pre and post-shipment rupee export credit was introduced to provide cheaper credit to exporters.
- The Union Government has started implementing the ‘Niryat Bandhu’ Scheme to reach out to the new and potential exporters including exporters from Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and support them through counselling sessions, encouraging them to get into international trade and boost Indian exports.
- Assistance is provided through the ‘Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES) and Market Access Initiatives (MAI) Scheme’.
- “Agriculture Export Policy” was launched to facilitate agricultural exports.
- The Government has launched a Common Digital Platform for Certificate of Origin to facilitate trade and increase Free Trade Agreement (FTA) utilization by exporters.
- 12 Champion Services Sectors have been identified for boosting and diversifying services exports.
- ‘One District, One Product’ has been launched by identifying products with export potential in each district.
- Special Package under the Atmanirbhar Bharat programme has been announced during the COVID pandemic to support the domestic industry through various banking and financial sector relief measures.