Govt sets up committee to boost exports from MSMEs - Indian Express

PTI : New Delhi, Sun Apr 28 2013, 10:44 hrs Worried over widening trade gap, the government has set up a six-member inter-ministerial committee under the chairmanship of Finance Secretary R S Gujral that will suggest measures to boost MSME exports. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector contributes about 40 per cent in the country's total exports and over 8 per cent to India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). "The committee will suggest short and long term measures to enhance exports from MSME sector. It will submit its recommendations by mid-May," an official said. The official said there is an urgent need to look at the MSME sector as exports are not doing well due to which the country's trade deficit has touched an all-time high of USD 190.1 billion in 2012-13. Although the government is taking every step including recent announcement of incentives and revamping special economic zone (SEZ) policy in order to increase shipments from the country, "more needs to be done", the official added. India's exports declined by about 2 per cent to USD 300.5 billion in 2012-13, way below the USD 360 billion targeted at the beginning of the year, due to the global demand slowdown. The widening trade gap is adding woes on the the Current Account Deficit (CAD) front, which has emerged as a tough policy challenge for the government. CAD crossed 6.7 per cent of the GDP in the third quarter of last fiscal. "Issues related with MSMEs need to be looked into greater depth as the sector would also help in boosting the growth of manufacturing sector," the official added. The other members of the committee include Commerce Secretary S R Rao, Revenue Secretary Sumit Bose, MSME Secretary Madhav Lal, Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Takru and Chief Economic Adviser Raghuram Rajan. According to experts, the government should take steps like providing credit to the sector at affordable rates. "Government should also increase the marketing funds for MSMEs. It will help them in marketing and branding of their products in the international market," Apparel Export promotion Council Chairman A Sakthivel said. ... contd. ALSO READ Govt agencies begin crackdown on Saradha Unauthorised chit fund activities have to be curbed: PM Weekly review: Market marches ahead on rate cut hopes, Sensex rises 270 pts Lara Dutta, Mahesh Bhupathi hand over Samsung Galaxy S4 to first 50 customers in Delhi Please read our terms of use before posting comments TERMS OF USE: The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s). via Business - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNF2hYsGgKvSkT7BIRiAiSO7cTn0Rg&url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/govt-sets-up-committee-to-boost-exports-from-msmes/1108762/

Put the internet to work for you. via Personal Recipe 2910127