In the Union Budget 2017-2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has announced that government will be introducing a new and restructured central scheme, namely, Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES) to boost export infrastructure. It will give relief to Indian exporters who are facing huge challenges due to inadequate infrastructure which pushes their transactions costs, impacting competitiveness of Indian goods in the global markets.
The new scheme, TIES will come into operation from the next financial year, 2017-18 and will replace a similar initiative called ASIDE (Assistance to States for Infrastructure Development of Exports) which was discontinued by the centre in 2015-16, when states’ share in net proceeds of union tax revenues was increased to 42% from 32%, in line with the 14th Finance Commission’s recommendations.
Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has said that the scheme will help in modernising infrastructure in states for exporters like last mile connectivity to ports, testing labs and certification centres.