India's finance minister today pushed for easing some tax burdens for exporters and even incentivising them through a central policy, as New Delhi seeks to boost overseas shipments.
"There's a repetitive and very relevant line that the Commerce Minister refers to ... 'We can't be exporting taxes.' We also should identify ways in which those taxes - whether Centre, State or local - that are on these products should be removed so that we don't burden their exporters," Nirmala Sitharaman said after inaugurating the third campus of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade in Kakinada. The governments did not get much revenue from those products but burdened the exporters nevertheless, she noted.
The Commerce Ministry is working on an export policy that will help the exporters by giving them incentives and promoting many things, she added.
India targets to ramp up exports of goods and services to $2 trillion by 2030 and aso eyes to raise the share of its exports in global trade to 3% by 2027 and 10% by 2047 from the current 2.1%, promoting hundred Indian brands as global champions.
While urging the states to adopt a multi-modal approach and ensure logistics did not become a burden on exporters, Sitharaman also said that increasing cost of electricity and logistics was also affecting the exports.
"With better roads and ports coming... electronic facilitation for the customs operations coming...surely, the logistics element is being addressed little by little. State governments should also spend some time to see that logistics doesn't become a burden on exporters," Sitharaman said.
She reffered to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's suggestion that States should open export promotion offices in Indian embassies abroad, Sitharaman said "If you have the capacity to tell the kind of things you produce that are international class... our embassies are the place where you should be and target the markets there. Some of our States are the size of some European countries. We have the capacity even as a district to capture the market outside".
Meanwhile, she took a dig at the Indian economic service and Indian trade service officers for doing only a "copy-paste" job.
"You have Indian economic service and Indian trade service officers giving papers to the Minister, saying, 'Oh, minister can you please take this up?' But, many a time I find them copy-paste. I am sorry to say this. The Minister doesn't get an advantage," Sitharaman remarked.
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