Push for exports, cash in on exchange rates: FM to traders

November 23, 2013 05:47 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 12:43 pm IST - Chennai:

Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and M. Rafeeque Ahmed, President of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), at the interactive session in Chennai on Saturday. Mr. Chidambaram exhorted traders to push exports by cashing in on attractive exchange rates. Photo: S.S.Kumar

Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and M. Rafeeque Ahmed, President of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), at the interactive session in Chennai on Saturday. Mr. Chidambaram exhorted traders to push exports by cashing in on attractive exchange rates. Photo: S.S.Kumar

Exhorting traders to push exports by cashing in on attractive exchange rate, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said imports cannot be “compressed” too much as they are the lifeline of many domestic industries.

“The trade balance in April - October is $ 90.7 billion. You will remember I said last year that for the full year, the trade balance was $ 190 billion. This year we have just crossed $ 90 billion. That is in a period of seven months. We still have five months to go,” he said at an interactive meeting organised by Federation of Indian Exports Organisation (FIEO).

Noting that the second half of a financial year always offers “better” economic conditions, he said: “Let us assume that the trade gap grows a little more. As long as we are able to contain the trade deficit to about $150 billion, may be even to $155 billion, I think we are still on a good wicket.”

“The point is we are open to suggestions … to make any corrections … to fine tune policies. But our goal must be the same. Our goal must be to maximise exports of this country and this is the best time to do. The exchange rate is quite attractive, competitive,” he said.

The rupee closed at 62.87 versus the US dollar on Friday.

The Finance Minister said there cannot be too much compression on imports and India would have to boost exports.

Imports are the lifeline of several industries in India without which they would not flourish, he said.

“The key to containing the trade deficit is to increase exports. I sincerely hope that all of you (traders) put your best effort in the next 4 to 5 months and make sure that exports continue to grow,” he said.

Exports grew by 13.5 per cent in October, the fastest pace in two years.

On introduction of Risk Management Systems for exports this year, which allow faster clearing of customs by reducing “dwell time” of a cargo from several days to a few hours in a customs house, he said RMS would help most of the cargo.

“I am told that most of the 70 per cent of the cargo go across the customs. (With introduction of RMS facility) 70 per cent of cargo will go without any inspection and we will do a risk management of exporter, the cargo and customs station.”

“Every minute cargo either coming into India or going out of India dwells in the customs station, adds to your cost. We are fully aware that this cost has to be minimised in order to keep a competitive edge to our exports”, he said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.