Suresh Prabhu, the newly appointed Commerce & Industry Minister has reiterated the government’s intent to increase the export and has said that his ministry is looking at certain measures to rev up country’s exports in a “shortest possible time” and will also strive to address the issues facing exporters post GST.
The minister said that exports to GDP (gross domestic product) ratio of India has to improve substantially in order to increase capacity utilisation of existing manufacturing units, as the outbound shipments have a great ability to generate economic activity by its own steam and we have to work out what can be done to promote exports in the shortest possible time.
Detailing further the minister said that exporters are facing certain challenges in the GST regime and the ministry is taking up those issues to the concerned authorities and is working on the support measures which can facilitate quick increase in exports both in terms of volume and value. The minister also said that domestic investments by the private sector have not increased considerably and one of the reasons for that is inadequate capacity utilisation.
Prabhu also said that his ministry will work on several other fronts, including bringing in new industrial policy, improving logistics for exporters, agri export policy and integrating into the global supply chains. A mid-term review of the five year Foreign Trade Policy is scheduled to be announced soon.