Exporters Urge Commerce Ministry To Deal With Non-Trade Barriers By Foreign Countries

On Thursday, domestic exporters recommended that the Commerce Ministry establish a distinct and specialised department to address non-trade barriers raised by various countries, which have an impact on the nation's exports.

They also asked for an extension of interest equalisation scheme and increasing rates under this scheme.

These concerns, along with others, were brought up in a meeting involving the Commerce Ministry, industry, and exporters. The meeting was chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

"We raised the issue of increasing non-trade barriers issues. The department of commerce should have a separate division for that so that we can have a focused approach to deal with them," Federation of Indian Export Organisations Director General Ajay Sahai, who participated in the deliberations, said.

Another exporter mentioned that they had highlighted the lack of container availability in inland areas, as well as the problem of certain shipping companies avoiding India.

They said that other issues which figured in the meeting included matters related to standards, quick turnaround time at ports, and free trade agreements to get more market access for domestic players.

Representatives of industry chambers—including PHDCCI, CII, and FICCI—participated in the meeting, besides officials of different export promotion councils including leather, engineering, electronics, gems and jewellery, and FIEO.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade and Invest India also gave presentations on Indian exports and imports.

India's merchandise exports rose by 9.1% to $38.13 billion in May, even as the trade deficit widened to a seven-month high of $23.78 billion during the month, according to the latest government data.

Healthy growth in various sectors, such as engineering, electronics, pharmaceuticals, textiles and plastics, helped register growth in exports despite global economic uncertainties.

FIEO president Ashwani Kumar has suggested an extension of the Interest Equalisation Scheme for the next five years. The scheme will end on June 30.

Economic think tank Global Trade Research Initiative in its report has stated that India needs to act in a fast-track manner for removal of non-trade barriers, being faced by domestic exporters in different countries like the US, China and Japan, to achieve one trillion dollar outbound shipment target for goods by 2030.

Most non-tariff measures are domestic rules created by countries with an aim to protect human, animal or plant health and environment. NTM may be technical measures like regulations, standards, testing, certification, pre-shipment inspection or non-technical measures like quotas, import licensing, subsidies, government procurement restrictions.

Key Indian exports that routinely face high barriers include chillies, tea, basmati rice, milk, poultry, bovine meat, fish, chemical products to EU; sesame seed, black tiger shrimps, medicines, apparels to Japan; food, meat, fish, dairy, industrial Products to China; shrimps to the US; and bovine meat to South Korea.

According to a GTRI report, other products which face these barriers include ceramic tiles in Egypt; chili in Mexico; medicines in Argentina; microbiological regents in Saudi Arabia; electrical, medical devices, household appliances in Brazil; veterinary pharmaceuticals, feed additives, machinery in Russia.

(Text Inputs From PTI)