Centre sets up export panel for policy inputs

Will suggest roadmap to boost trade

 The decision to this effect emerged at the day long meeting of the Board of Trade (BOT)—a high level panel that suggest inputs to the government for evolving trade policy—held here.

The proposed working group on export will include SBI Chairman O P Bhatt, ICICI Chief Executive Officer (CEO) & Managing Director Chanda Kochhar, Pawan Munjal of Hero Group and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon.

“The working group has been mandated to submit its report in three months time. The group will primarily suggest specific measures on how to enhance country’s competitiveness and enhance manufacturing capacity,” Commerce & Industry Minister Anand Sharma told newspersons after chairing the BOT meeting.

While dwelling on wide ranging export-related issues discussed at the BOT meeting he said several suggestions were made on how to tackle the infrastructure bottlenecks affecting country’s export.

“Soon we will come out with a strategy paper on how to reduce the transaction cost, which holds key to improve the competitiveness of export,” Sharma, who heads the BOT, said.

In response to a query he indicated that the review of performance of various sectors of export would be completed by December this year.

“Based on sectoral review we will decide promotion packages for specific sectors of export, which still need support for export promotion,” Sharma said.   

As part of strategy to boost export the government will continue to focus on identifying as well as developing new markets as the recent phenomenon of global slowdown has hit country’s traditional markets, he said. 

Asked about export performance in current fiscal 2010-11, Sharma said “we hope to cross the modest export target of 200 billion dollars.”