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Exports, industrial clusters, twin objectives of Exim Policy

EXIM POLICY

The new Exim Policy aims at making exports 'self-generating' and 'growth oriented' in the next five years while promoting industrial clusters as a major hub of export activity, Director-General of Foreign Trade N L Lakhanpal said on Sunday.

"This year the focus is on attaining critical mass to boost exports and regularising industrial clusters which have come up without any government initiative," Lakhanpal said, adding 34 of the 354 clusters identified by UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) will receive focus in the next five years.

The 34 clusters accounting for nearly Rs 700 billion worth of exports will be facilitated by regularising their operations besides granting assistance including finance for setting up common facilities like effluent treatment plants.

As most of the clusters are unauthorised, Lakhanpal said they find it difficult to get facilities like bank finance.

The government would act as facilitator and even permit import of second hand capital goods under Export Promotion Capital Goods scheme.

The Exim Policy has identified three such clusters -- Tirupur for hosiery, Panipat for woollen blankets and Ludhiana for woollen knitwear, Lakhanpal said adding the remaining 31 would be extended benefits in the next five years.

Lakhanpal said funds under the Market Access Initiative would also be extended to associations in these industrial clusters rather than disbursing them merely to export councils.

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