Develop global Indian shipping line, extend IES duration: FIEO to govt

The marketing support provided through the Market Access Initiative (MAI) of the department with a corpus of ₹200 crore (~$24 million) is ‘grossly inadequate’ to support the big target for exports, FIEO noted.

The suggestions were offered by FIEO president Ashwani Kumar during a pre-budget consultation meeting with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, an FIEO release said.

India’s outward remittance on transport services is increasing with rising exports. The country remitted over $109 billion as transport service charge in 2022, and this this is expected to touch $200 billion by 2030. A 25-per cent share by an Indian shipping line can save $50 billion on an annual basis basis and also reduce arm twisting by foreign shipping lines, FIEO said.

The zero rating of exports should not be limited to budget constraints, it suggested.

Looking at the rise in interest rates consequent to increase in repo rate from 4.4 per cent to 6.5 per cent in the last two years, the subvention rates may be restored back from 3 per cent to 5 per cent for micro, small and medium enterprises in the manufacturing sector from 2 per cent to 3 per cent for all in respect of 410 tariff lines, FIEO added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)