Directorate General of Foreign Trade office in Belagavi

A branch of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade will open in Belagavi, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman announced here on Saturday.

The office will issue Generalised System of Preferences Certificates that allow developing countries to pay less or no duty on their exports to the European Union.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme as part of the BJP’s ‘Tiranga Yatra’, Sitharaman said that though there was an online system for receiving applications, the office in Belagavi was being established to respond to local demands and to address problems of unpredictable infrastructure. The Karnataka government will be asked to provide land for the office. If that doesn’t materialise, the office will be opened in a rented building, she stated.

Answering a question, Sitharaman claimed that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India had gone up by 42% in two years ending January 2016 after the BJP assumed power.

The minister also said the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties was looking into the issue of dumping. In the backdrop of competitive prices being quoted by companies where there was risk of dumping substandard products, the directorate was verifying the cost of production to discourage dumping by other countries, she said.