Industry eager to see draft New Foreign Trade Policy, says PHDCCI webinar on Industry Expectation from New Foreign Trade Policy
The global supply chains are undergoing a major transformation due to disruptions caused by COVID-19. It is high time for India to seize the opportunity to strengthen its position at the global level and utilise the opportunity of trade diversion from China, Shri Deepak Pahwa, Chair, FTIC Committee, PHD Chamber, in his welcome remark in a webinar on Industry Expectations from New Foreign Trade Policy 2021-26.
Shri Sanjay Aggarwal, Former President, PHDCCI, stated that India should expedite the signing of free trade agreements with the US, UAE, Australia, Japan and other countries. Government should also take up the issue of restoring GSP status with the USA as it is the major market for India. Zero duty under GSP status will make Indian exporters more competitive at the global level. Export reward mechanisms should focus on introducing schemes that will bolster the capabilities of Indian companies in areas such as technological innovation and product development.
Dr. Badri Narayanan Gopalakrishnan, Lead Advisor (Trade and Commerce), NITI Aayog, Government of India said that new foreign trade policy will capture all aspects of new and growing challenges of the exporters and designed in an appropriate way to support the industry to overcome the challenges of the next 10 years. Promotion of high-tech exports, access to raw materials and intermediate, promotion of domestic production, integration in Global Value Chains, etc. would be the focus so that the industry can explore new markets and level playing field.
The New Foreign Trade Policy should focus on incentivizing the export products which are contributing significantly to the exports and has a comparative advantage for India to become more competitive and balance trade destination, said Prof. Niti Bhasin, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. The FTA leverage of India is not very encouraging and trade balance is not favorable for India in most of the FTA agreements. Thus, She urges the government to re-negotiate the FTAs, particularly in those products where India can capitalize.
Shri Mohammad Saim, IRS, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, highlighted that custom clearances are becoming more technology-driven. The process of obtaining refunds and getting a license has become easier in the last two years. The government is expediting the process of clearing the pending refunds. He further mentioned that the Government has also started the new feature in the ICEGATE portal for automated complaint resolution in the stipulated time period.
Industry urges synchronization among Foreign trade policy, GST laws and Customs to make India more Attamanirbhar Bharat, said Shri Bimal Jain, Chair, Indirect Tax Committee, PHD Chamber. Exporter community is suffering due to delayed payments of refunds, so the industry urges the government to have more clear, simple, and smooth rules for availing export returns under IGST so that exporter can get their refunds without delay.
The Industry urges the government to correct anomalies in RoDTEP and allow companies to present their own/specific data for rates specific to a product of a particular company, said Shri Sanjay Beswal, Co-Chair, Foreign Trade and Investment Committee, PHD Chamber. DFIA to Non-SION items would allow some advantages for domestic procurement and encourage make in India, Mr. Beswal said. He also said that Export Promotion Capital Goods Scheme is one of the best schemes for export-led manufacturing, which help in expanding markets and take care of the tax factor of Capital Goods in export costing.
Shri Nirmal Khandelwal, Co-Chair, Foreign Trade and Investment Committee, PHD Chamber suggested to establish a body to support MSME, so that it can be part of GCV and exports. Loans for the exporter are available at a very high rate in comparison to other emerging economies, so there is a need to rationalize the rate of the loan for exporters. Also, he requested to announce the custom rates every week instead of the current duration of 15 days so that exporters can avail little compensation on it.
