Centre, states, industry to discuss export situation tomorrow

Centre, state governments and industry representatives will meet tomorrow to deliberate upon ways to further boost the country's exports.

The meeting of the 'Council for Trade Development and Promotion' will be chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The council was constituted to promote India's overseas shipments.

In its previous meeting in January last year, faster refund of state taxes, improved rail-road connectivity, land and environment clearances were among the major issues discussed.

They had also deliberated on quality and standards of products, labour issues and the Assistance to States for Infrastructure Development of Exports (ASIDE) scheme.

The other members of the council are trade/commerce ministers of states and Union Territories, besides 14 secretaries of the central government including commerce, revenue, shipping, civil aviation, agriculture, food processing and economic affairs.

The council provides a platform to state governments and UTs for articulating their perspective on trade policy to help them develop and pursue export strategies in line with national foreign trade policy.

Expanding for the third straight month, exports rose 2.29 percent to USD 20 billion in November on account of healthy growth in shipments of petroleum products and engineering goods.