The Government has set the exports target to $325 billion for the FY14 which is less than the previous fiscal's exports target of $360 billion in wake of the prevailing global economic slowdown which has impacted trades all over the world with India being no exception. The exports declined by 1.76% to $300.6 billion during 2012-13 which were the first ever decline since 2009-10 and pushed up the trade deficit during the fiscal to $190.91 billion from $183.4 billion in the previous financial year.
However, concerned over the declining India’s export, the Government announced a slew of measures in the annual Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) including sops for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and extension of the popular EPCG scheme to all sectors to boost shipments. The Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme, which allows exporters to import capital goods at zero duty, would be extended beyond March 2013 and would be applicable to all sectors.
Further, the scheme would also merge with 3 per cent EPCG scheme. Regarding the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Scheme, the government has stated that the minimum land area requirement for setting up such zones has been reduced to half and there would be no ceiling for IT and ITeS SEZs.
