The Centre, on Tuesday, notified a list of 158 hi-tech products from sectors such as engineering and electronics that will qualify for benefit under the focus product scheme (FPS) to give a boost to exports.
The products covered under the FPS are entitled for 2 per cent duty credit scrip, and such benefits under the scheme will be available from August 15. The detailed list of the products would be separately notified by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
To study the list of items eligible for such benefit, a taskforce was set up under the chairmanship of Additional Secretary in Department of Commerce, Rajiv Kher.
The objective of the FPS is to promote export of products which have high export intensity, employment potential, so as to offset infrastructural inefficiencies and other associated costs involved in marketing of these products.
Boost to exports
The step will help in increasing exports, which had entered the negative zone after a gap of four months, recording a contraction of 1.1 per cent in May, and leading to a trade deficit of $20.1 billion, the highest in the last seven months.
Reacting to the latest announcement, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Rafeeque Ahmed said it would definitely give a push to export growth at this difficult time.
