New Delhi: Exporters body FIEO today sought fiscal as well as non-fiscal measures in the forthcoming Union Budget 2017-18 that will help boost shipments. It asked the government to create of an 'Export Development Fund' for aggressive marketing particularly for MSMEs and VAT exemption for merchant exporters.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the Budget in Parliament on Wednesday. On the duty front, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has recommended customs duty abolition on shredded scrap, abolition of export duty on Bauxite of all forms and reduction of import duty on seaweed.
"Exports of Bauxite of all forms from India are expected to grow tremendously during the next 2-3 years. However, due to levy of export duty, exporters' competitiveness is reduced due to price advantage to their rival competitors," FIEO said in a statement.
Further, it asked the government to exempt exports from service tax. "First paying the service tax and then applying for refund of it increases transaction cost and time. Many times small exporters do not apply for refund as it takes lot of documentation and time," it added.
Recording positive growth for the fourth month in a row, India's exports rose by 5.72 per cent to USD 23.9 billion in December on better performance by petroleum, engineering and pharmaceuticals segments.
