The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : ‘No clarity on steel supply to SEZs’

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Saturday, May 10, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

‘No clarity on steel supply to SEZs’

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Director-General of Foreign Trade R. S. Gujral said that there is no clarity on whether steel supplied by domestic units to special economic zones (SEZ) will be subject to export duty.

Responding to an issue raised by exporters at an open house organised here on Friday, Mr. Gujral said that it wasn’t clear whether such supplies to SEZs by domestic manufacturers would be eligible for Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) and other such concessions.

Federation of Indian Export Promotion Organisations (FIEO), Pharmaceutical Export promotion Council (Pharmexcil) and Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) organised the ‘open house’ with the DGFT.

The three organisations represented that imposition of excise duty on steel products and basmati rice was a retrograde step as it would adversely affect the competitive advantage and export targets.

Concessions

EEPC expressed doubt if automobile components and parts constituted part of ‘engineering products’ as commercial banks excluded them from this category whereas Reserve Bank of India (RBI) brought them under ‘engineering products’.

The DGFT clarified that the RBI’s definition was correct and that these products could claim the concession.

Pharmexcil wanted the DGFT to include countries like Ukraine, Russia, CIS countries, Brazil and Nigeria in the ‘Focus Market Scheme’ in view of the great potential for the Indian pharma industry. Mr. Gujral interestingly shrugged it off with a smile.

The exporters sought relaxation of export obligation for the current financial year by 10 per cent to compensate for the rupee fluctuation. They expressed their anguish over the inordinate delay in finalising ad hoc norms for new export products, affecting the exports.

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