Help our exporters

The government, particularly commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman, needs to be seriously concerned about the fall in exports for the fifth straight month in April. The fall is in high-earning sectors like gems/jewellery, electronics, leather, etc. While a part of the reason is the slowdown in the world economy, that is only half the picture. Indian exporters are yet to tap growing markets like Africa and Latin America. More disturbing are the negative polices of the Central and state governments, plus the corruption that is all-pervasive.

Among these negative policies is the Centre’s failure to release the Rs 1,625-crore interest intervention announced for exporters. To get sales tax refunds, exporters allegedly have to pay 10 per cent in bribes, compared to five per cent earlier. The amount varies from state to state — it’s 6-7 per cent in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

A level playing field is needed to make them competitive: they pay 11-14 per cent interest compared to five per cent in China, which brought rates down further in May; one per cent in the United States and three per cent in Europe. They face a lack of infrastructure — no good roads, inefficient public sector ports — and then must pay bribes to get containers loaded on to lorries for onward transport. These costs have risen to Rs 25,000 for 50 km, compared to just Rs 10,000 in Japan or Thailand. These complaints must be looked into if Ms Sitharaman is really serious about addressing the concerns of our entrepreneur-exporters.