Centre doles out sops to exporters
Under the MEIS, the Centre provides duty benefits at two per cent, three per cent and five per cent
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-10-31 01:23 GMT
New Delhi: To give a boost to exports, the Centre on Friday extended duty incentives to several products, including textiles and electronics to help shipments. The commerce ministry announced increased support for export of various products and included some additional items under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS). The current revision introduces 110 new tariff lines (products) and increases rates or country coverage or both for 2,228 existing tariff lines.
Under the MEIS, the government provides duty benefits at two per cent, three per cent and five per cent depending upon the product and country. Global support has been extended to products including textile items, pharmaceuticals, project goods, auto components, telecom, computer, electrical, electronics and railway transport equipments. Earlier, benefits to these items were provided to a few countries.
Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) president S.C. Ralhan said that revision of MEIS is a welcome step. He said that the MEIS scheme introduced in the new Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 had not covered several items and countries which were eligible for rewards in the previous policy. “This had given a huge pressure to exporters who had booked orders taking into consideration the benefits available to them and were therefore demanding this revision for a long time,” he said.
He welcomed the inclusion of 110 new tariff lines and revising rates and country coverage for tariff lines and said it will enhance price competitiveness to some extent and help in arresting the current downfall in exports.