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The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has identified three focus-areas to boost exports from India to the world in a survey conducted by the industry chamber, prior to the announcement of Foreign Trade Policy 2007-08, The three focus areas include :-

 

• Urgent need for better trade infrastructure in India
•  Further ease in procedures for exports and imports
• Proactively engage in trade agreements with other countries to expand  geographically and increase market share in the global markets.

The survey covered a broad spectrum of Indian companies in manufacturing and service sectors involved in international trade including big corporates, SMEs and smaller enterprises. Sectors like textiles, engineering, food products, IT, gems and jewellery, leather, bio-technology are covered.

 

The most important barrier identified by exporters for penetrating in global markets is the difficulty in obtaining visas for traveling for business development. Indian exporters require greater openings for business-visas, the survey suggested. Exporters have also sought reduction of processing time and further simplification of procedures for getting visas in large markets.

 

Upgrade Trade Infrastructure

Most exporters are concerned about the high transportation costs, which dent their competitiveness in the international markets. According to a WTO study, maritime transport cost for India would decrease by over 15 percent if port efficiency in India were at the level of France or Sweden. High inland haulage charges, long turnaround time in the Indian ports and long delivery periods have been identified as main factors affecting cost competitiveness of Indian exports. Inland haulage costs from Delhi to Mumbai is estimated to be approximately 30 percent of the freight charges from India to Europe. In addition to this, exporters are of the opinion that procedural delays add up to the cost due to inadequate infrastructure in India, the survey points out.

 

Simplify Procedures

Equally important is simplification of import procedures. Cost of import is very high in India in comparison to China. A World Bank report puts it at US$ 1244 per container for India, and the corresponding figure for China is only US$ 375 per container.

 

The issue of continuity of export-promotion schemes and incentives within the trade policy of India is another area of concern for the exporters. Abrupt discontinuance of schemes like 'Target Plus' scheme has adversely impacted export plans for the companies. Another issue is categorisation of exporters for the purpose of MDA (Market development Assistance), which the exporters feel should cover all segments of exporters rather than a select few ones.

 

Exports to Sri Lanka face regular delays due to the longer inspection procedures of the EICs (Export Inspection Council) for ISLFTA certificate. Exporters suggest an independent agency for inspection purposes be set up.

 

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