Government reviews export sops, industrial output

NEW DELHI - The government has set up a high-level panel to review issues related to export incentives and slowdown in industrial output growth, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said Thursday.

I have set up a seven-member working group. It will do a comprehensive review of all the issues related to exports. It includes policy as well as institutional changes, Sharma told reporters after the second meeting of the reconstituted Board of Trade here.

The commerce minister said India’s exports were likely to exceed the $200 billion target for the year.

Our export in the first six months of this fiscal was $103 billion. We have set a modest target of $200 billion for the year. I am confident we will cross it, he said.

The government has announced a Rs.2,400 crore incentive package to boost exports after it was negatively affected by the global economic slowdown.

On the continuation of the special incentive packages, Sharma said: We will take a decision based on recommendations of the working group.

The working group comprises senior government officials and industrialists. They are: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairman and managing director of Biocon; Venu Srinivasan, head of TVS Group; Pawan Munjal, managing director of Hero Honda; R. Seshasayee, managing director of Ashok Leyland; O.P. Bhatt, chairman of State Bank of India; and Chanda Kochhar, CEO and managing director of ICICI Bank.

Director General of Foreign Trade Anup K. Pujari is the convenor of the panel which will submit its report in three months.

On the slowdown in industrial output growth, the commerce minister said the government was constantly monitoring the situation.

Our industrial growth remained in double digit for most part of the year. We are constantly monitoring any variation in it, he added.

Industrial output growth slumped to 4.4 percent in September from 8.2 percent in August and double-digit growth in the previous months of the fiscal 2010-11.