Measures on to protect exporters against Re appreciation:Nath

Bangalore, Feb 8 (UNI) The Centre has initiated various measures to protect Indian exporters in the wake of rupee appreciation against the dollar and other European currencies, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath said today.

Addressing an Exporters Meet organised jointly by the Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) and Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) here, Mr Nath highlighted the measures taken by the Centre to offset the loss suffered by the Indian exporters due to rupee appreciation.

He said the Centre was examining the feasibility of introducing zero duty Export Promotion Credit Guaranteee (EPCG) scheme replacing the present five per cent concessional duty EPCG scheme.

The Centre was also examining to take steps to ensure that all the taxes incurred on export production were reimbursed to the exporters.

It was also examining to reduce the transaction cost for exporters and was considering to notify all ports by the customs for general import and export with valuation facilities as ports under export promotion scheme. At present, of the 346 such ports only 108 were notified for export promotion scheme.

However, Director General for Foreign Trade R S Gujral, in his address, ruled out the possibility of reimbursing the losses suffered by the exporters due to rupee appreciation.

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