Commerce Ministry working on proposal to enhance availability of affordable credit to certain exporters

The commerce ministry is working on a proposal to enhance the availability of affordable credit to certain exporters and products with a view to boosting overseas shipments, a senior government official said Tuesday.

The commerce ministry is working on a proposal to enhance the availability of affordable credit to certain exporters and products with a view to boosting overseas shipments, a senior government official said Tuesday.

Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Alok Chaturvedi said there are demands for extending the interest subvention scheme to merchant exporters and some MSMEs.

"We are analyzing all those demands including those for merchant exporters and in some cases, MSMEs" are not getting interested subvention benefits, he told reporters here.

"We are analyzing that, and then we will be moving a proposal for including those. Higher rate (of interest subvention) would not be possible, but the inclusion of more lines (products)," he said.

He said that last year, the ministry moved a proposal for increasing the rate of interest subsidy to 5 percent from 3 percent at present "but it did not find favor with the finance ministry".

Further talking about the export sector, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan said that increasing oil prices and protectionism are certain challenges in front of the sector.

India imports 85 percent of its petroleum requirement and "it raises a major cost into our economy," he said adding other challenges are protectionism, unilateralism across the world and increasing trade tensions between major countries.

However, he added that the government is taking steps to promote and facilitate exports from the country.

The country's exports grew by about 10 percent to USD 303 billion in 2017-18. Since 2011-12, India's exports have been hovering at around USD 300 billion.

Wadhawan said that the ministry is implementing a comprehensive strategy, which is focusing on products as well as countries, to enhance shipments.