Mumbai: The government is working on a strategy to boost share of services, which will grow faster than merchandise exports raising the total exports from the country, said commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu.
"In last few months, we are seeing exports registering growth. We are targeting to ensure that exports are not only traditional products, but new products are also added to the basket. We are focusing on services and have identified 12 services as 'Champion Services'," Prabhu said after inaugurating CapIndia event here.
He said that the government has already approved a Rs 5,000 crore to promote 12 champion services sectors such as IT, tourism and hospitality.
The decision, he said, will drive growth of the services economy in India. We have prepared an action plan for each of these sectors to promote them domestically as well as globally, the minister said.
Services sector will play a significant role in pushing the country's economic growth and the industry must focus on delivering services of global standards, he added.
Prabhu pointed out that the country's chemical sector has huge growth potential and it needs to create capacity to meet exports demand.
The country's chemicals industry is expected to more than double and touch $300 billion by 2025 from $147 billion now, according to Chemexcil.
The new industrial policy, which seeks to promote emerging sectors, will be released within a few months. The government will provide an enabling environment to the industry to increase the country's exports, he said.
Prabhu said the ministry is also formulating an agri- export policy, which was put in the public domain to seek stakeholders' views.
The aviation ministry is preparing a plan for providing air cargo support to agricultural hubs to promote farm exports and UAE and Saudi Arabia have shown keen interest in investing, he added.
"The chemical sector is expected to double to $300 billion by 2025, clocking an annual growth rate of 15-20 per cent. To achieve this, government is also working on a draft chemical policy that will focus on meeting the rising demand for chemicals and reduce imports," chemicals export promotion council (Chemexcil) chairman Satish Wagh said on the sideline of 3-day CapIndia exhibition here.
"The expo will help us tap immense opportunities for growth, which exist in the fields of speciality chemicals, polymers and agrochemicals industries as Make in India initiative further facilitates growth and investment," Wagh said.
Take urgent steps to streamline cross border trade: PMO to ComMin
New Delhi: The Prime Minister's Office has directed the commerce ministry to take immediate steps on streamlining procedures for trade with a view to facilitate movement of goods across borders and improve India's ranking in ease of doing business, an official said.
India ranked 146th in Trading Across Borders component of ease of doing business, out of 190 countries ranked by the World Bank in its latest report.
"As the ranking in this parameter is not good, the Prime Minister's Office has directed the ministry to take steps in this direction," the commerce ministry official said. The logistics division of the ministry is working to significantly improve the position in the next year's report.
As part of the steps, the ministry has written to all the major stakeholders, including ports, customs, regulatory bodies such as Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to give all approvals and clearances in a paperless manner.
"We have asked to give all clearances for exports and imports online. Paper transaction needs to be eliminated as it increases inefficiencies," the official added.
The move would significantly help in reducing both time and cost of traders for taking different kinds of approvals.
Although the government has reduced the number of mandatory documents required for import and export of goods to three in each case, it takes time to get approval.
The ministry has also asked customs to carry out 'direct port delivery' for majority of consignments with a view to speed up movement of cargo containers.
According to an exporter, it takes several days for clearance of cargos without 'direct port delivery' system. Under this delivery mechanism, it takes about 50 hours.
The whole exercise is aimed at pushing the
country's exports. pti