Exporters Seek Dedicated Division to Address Non-Trade Barriers

New Delhi, Jun 27 (PTI) Domestic exporters on Thursday suggested the commerce ministry to set up a separate and dedicated division to deal with non-trade barriers being raised by different countries as they impact the country's outbound shipments.

They also asked for an extension of interest equalisation scheme, and increasing rates under this scheme.

These issues among others were raised during a meeting between the commerce ministry, industry and exporters. It was chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

"We raised the issue of increasing non-trade barriers issues. The department of commerce should have a separate division for that so that we can have a focused approach to deal with them," Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Director General Ajay Sahai, who participated in the deliberations, said.

Another exporter said that container availability at hinterlands were flagged by them, besides the issue of some shipping lines bypassing India.

They said that other issues which figured in the meeting included matters related to standards, quick turnaround time at ports, and free trade agreements (FTAs) to get more market access for domestic players.

Representatives of industry chambers including PHDCCI, CII, and Ficci participated in the meeting, besides officials of different export promotion councils including leather, engineering, electronics, gems and jewellery, and FIEO.

The directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) and Invest India also gave presentations on Indian exports and imports.

India's merchandise exports rose by 9.1 per cent to USD 38.13 billion in May even as the trade deficit widened to a seven-month high of USD 23.78 billion during the month, according to the latest government data.

Healthy growth in various sectors, such as engineering, electronics, pharmaceuticals, textiles and plastics, helped register growth in exports despite global economic uncertainties.

FIEO president Ashwani Kumar has suggested an extension of the Interest Equalisation Scheme for the next five years. The scheme will end on June 30.

Economic think tank GTRI in its report has stated that India needs to act in a fast-track manner for removal of non-trade barriers (NTBs), being faced by domestic exporters in different countries like the US, China and Japan, to achieve one trillion dollar outbound shipment target for goods by 2030.

Most non-tariff measures (NTMs) are domestic rules created by countries with an aim to protect human, animal or plant health and environment. NTM may be technical measures like regulations, standards, testing, certification, pre-shipment inspection or non-technical measures like quotas, import licensing, subsidies, government procurement restrictions.

Key Indian exports that routinely face high barriers include chillies, tea, basmati rice, milk, poultry, bovine meat, fish, chemical products to EU; sesame seed, black tiger shrimps, medicines, apparels to Japan; food, meat, fish, dairy, industrial Products to China; shrimps to the US; and bovine meat to South Korea.

According to a GTRI report, other products which face these barriers include ceramic tiles in Egypt; chili in Mexico; medicines in Argentina; microbiological regents in Saudi Arabia; electrical, medical devices, household appliances in Brazil; veterinary pharmaceuticals, feed additives, machinery in Russia.