On Saturday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled ar set of reforms to boost export sector. In last few weeks, government has introduced a slew of measures in various areas like Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), bank mergers and governance reforms, automobile industry, tax and so forth to help country achieve target of $5 trillion ecomy. This comes at a juncture when re is a slowdown in growth as well as consumption in India. Here is how exporters stand to gain: 

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Scheme extension 

scheme for Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Production (RoDTEP) will replace Merchandise Exports from India (MIES) scheme. existing dispensation would continue till December 31, 2019. All sectors including Textiles that currently enjoy up to 2% over MIES will transit into RoDTEP from January 1, 2020. With revenue forgone projected at Rs. 50,000 crore, RoDTEP is set to benefit exporters more than all existing schemes put toger. 

Automated electronic refund and revised PSL rms 

By end of September 2019, fully electronic refund module will be initiated for Input Tax Credits (ITC) in Goods and Services Tax (GST). This is expected to monitor and speed up ITC refunds as it is an automated process. Also, Priority Sector Lending (PSL) rms for export credit have been examined. Thus, Rs. 36,000 crore in addition to Rs. 68,000 crore will be released as export credit under priority sector. 

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Scope of Export insurance enhanced 

Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) will expand scope of Export Credit Insurance Scheme (ECIS). banks that lend working capital to exporters will receive a higher insurance cover. This measure will cost about Rs. 1,700 crore per year. premium incidence for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is going to be moderated according to requirement. This helps reduce total cost of export credit including interest rates to MSMEs. 

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Export Finance monitoring and use of Techlogy 

An Inter-Ministerial Working Group in Department of Commerce will regularly monitor Export Finance. It will be tracked via a dashboard after which necessary actions can be taken after reviewing data with institutions. An Inter-Ministerial Group will be responsible for reducing time of exports. action plan in this regard will be implemented by December 2019. Real-time data of turnaround times will be published for each port and airport. Techlogy would be leverd to maximum possible extent to digitise export clearances and eliminate offline manual services.

Mega shopping festivals and E-commerce 

Mega shopping festivals will be organised in four places across March 2020. y will focus on sectors like handicraft, yoga, tourism, textiles, and lear. Efforts will be undertaken to ensure mass enrolment of artisans across India. Handicraft artisans and co-operatives will be on-boarded directly on E-commerce portals to enable seamless exports.

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FTA Utilisation Mission 

Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Utilisation Mission, headed by a senior officer in Department of Commerce, will be set up. It aims to utilise concessionary tariffs in each FTA. It will also spread awareness of preferential duty benefits among MSMEs under FTAs for exporters. Moreover, Directorate General of Foreign Trade along with Exports Inspection Council will launch an original ‘Online Manment System’ for exporters. This would enable m to obtain Certificates of Origin, reby improving ease of business. 

Adoption of mandatory technical standards 

A Working Group on Standards in Department of Commerce will eng with industry to adopt technical standards within a timeframe. Thus, Indian products will be able to overcome n-tariff barriers in exports. Furrmore, testing and certification infrastructure will be made more affordable to reduce costs of Indian exporters.  

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