FICCI demands “complete package”
Dr Amit Mitra, secretary general of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) has spoken on behalf of the federation, demanding government action for exporters.
“The 12% fall in exports is indeed a very steep one and our goods exports constitute around 18% of our GDP,” he said. “This is bound to have a significant impact on our growth for the next quarter. Unless the government comes out with a complete package for the exporters immediately we may see further falls in our exports in the current year.”
While welcoming the government’s recently announced measures for exporters which include extending the period of entitlement for pre-shipment and post-shipment rupee export credit, FICCI feels the action taken was inadequate. It believes that a number of other measures such as a restoration of the interest subvention scheme until March 2009 and increased duty drawback rates would help exporters combat the current crises.
FICCI claims labour-intensive sectors such as the leather, footwear and textile industries will have experienced negative growth in October.
“In such a precarious situation it is important that the Government stimulates the demand in domestic economy also so that the exporters could focus on domestic front in the coming months”, said Dr Mitra.
