Govt amends MAI to promote 'brand India' abroad

New Delhi, Dec 21 (UNI) The Government has amended the Market Access Initiative (MAI) to include additional activities for financial assistance comprising organising/participation in trade festival of India in select centres abroad to promote 'brand India'.

The promotion include capacity building and imparting training, upgradation/improvement of laboratories, universities, research institutions for fulfilling sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures, providing assistance for all trade related studies and developing foreign trade facilitation web portal as well as to support cottage and handicraft units.

Briefing newsmen here, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the decision to this effect was taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today.

He said the amendment was carried out based on the feedback and suggestions received from all the stakeholders.

Mr Chidambaram said as per the amended rules Indian missions abroad, national level institutions like IITs, IIMs, NID and NIFT and research institutions, universities and recognised laboratories will also now be eligible for assistance under the scheme.

He said under this the level of assistance is also being modified, for various categories of activities such as opening of showrooms and warehouses, research and product development, assistance to visits of foreign buyers, development of common facility centres, design centres.

The MAI scheme has thus been suitably amended to enable optimal utilisation of resources and achievement of the objectons of the scheme which is to provide for sustained export growth and accelerate the growth of Indian exports, he added.

UNI BKS SRS ND1554