The Commerce Ministry is preparing an incentive package for labour intensive sectors like leather with a view to promote shipments and address issues of exporters, Union Minister Suresh Prabhu said.
He said that there have been challenges for export sector over a period of time, such as issues related to credit availability.
“We are preparing a package which will ensure that exporters’ woes are addressed properly. There have been challenges for the export sector over a period of time and one big challenge is credit,” Prabhu told agencies.
He said the package would focus on labour intensive sectors such as leather, textile and marine products as they would help in creating jobs.
The minister said there has been a sharp decline in credit to the export sector and the department of commerce has taken up the matter with the finance ministry and with the RBI.
“I am supposed to meet new RBI Governor (Shaktikanta Das) and will explain him, what are the new things we need to do at export front. We are also saying that RBI should classify credit to export as priority sector lending,” he added.
The other challenge, he said, which the export sector is facing is related to refund of Goods and Services tax (GST).
Talking about the steps to reduce transaction cost for exporters, Prabhu said the ministry is in the process of presenting a bill on multi-modal transport in Parliament.
This will help enhance efficiency in logistics sector, he said adding each logistics company will be rated by a regulatory organisation, which will be created by the industry.
