Fin & comm ministries to settle FTP feud with minor changes

CNBC-TV18’s Ronojoy Banerjee, quoting top government sources, reports that the finance ministry recently, in a letter to the commerce ministry, raised serious objections to the just concluded foreign trade policy (FTP) announcement.

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CNBC-TV18's Ronojoy Banerjee, quoting top government sources, reports that the finance ministry recently, in a letter to the commerce ministry, raised serious objections to the just concluded foreign trade policy (FTP) announcement.

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According to sources, on June 8, barely three days after the announcement of the foreign trade policy (FTP) by commerce minister Anand Sharma, finance secretary RS Gujral wrote to commerce secretary SR Rao raising several concerns with respect to the contours of the foreign trade policy.

Key concerns comprise suo moto changes to the FTP initiated by the commerce ministry without seeking the approval of the finance Ministry, deletion of key provisions from the FTP and the rationale behind expansion of some of the existing schemes. Gujral in fact said that these changes could have a serious impact on revenue.

In a statement, the finance secretary clarified that all differences would be resolved with the commerce ministry on the FTP. He added that minor changes would be made to the FTP.

Commerce minister Anand Sharma also cleared the air in a statement issued today. "There are no differences between me and the finance ministry. There are some implementations and downstream issues which have been raised and will be addressed….."

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