NEW DELHI, APR 15: The Commerce ministry did not consult the Food ministry while allowing unrestricted imports of RBD (refined, bleached and deodrised) palm oil, palm kernel and palm styrene, food ministry sources said today."The Exim policy modifications is part of a whole policy and it may be the reason why we were not consulted particularly while decanalising imports of four edible oil items," the sources, who did not want to identify, said.The edible oil industry, particularly vanaspati manufacturers, are upset over commerce ministry's move to allow imports of RBD palm oil, other refined palm oil and crude palm kernel oil.The vanaspati manufacturers association (VMA) has shot off a letter to Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde demanding that these products be placed in the canalised list again. Under the canalised list, imports can be made only by agencies nominated by the government, like the State Trading Corporation and MMTC.Food Ministry sources said import of palm kernel could have animpact on prices of coconut oil in the country. "Palm kernel could be used as a substitute for coconut oil. And that could have an effect on domestic coconut oil prices," they said.Meanwhile, experts said the country's Exim policy should reflect the government's intentions about the direction in which it wants the country's exports to move.Dissecting the implications of the new Exim policy on business and industry, leading consultant on exports and imports, YR Ullal, at a workshop organised by the Indian Merchants' Chamber on the new Exim policy, welcomed the recognition accorded to the service sector - an important foreign exchange earner for the country.Ullal, however, criticised the tortuous documentation procedures to be followed by exporters. He said there was some confusion regarding the general threshold limit for export promotion capital goods (EPCG) zero-duty scheme which had been reduced to Rs one crore for some sub-sectors.He emphasised the need for deleting the term ``physicallyincorporated'' in the advance licence scheme granted for inputs as this would require a nexus to be established between the inputs and outputs once again regarding the duty free import of inputs.Robin Banerjee, head-commercial export, Hindustan Lever Ltd, said the policy should contain broad guidelines on the procedures for exporters and importers and should also outline thrust areas for exports along with the geographical and product strategies. ``The Exim policy should summarise what the exporting community ought to know about exports,'' Banerjee said.He questioned the very rationale of advance licence and asked ``why have licence at all? more than 200 countries do not have licence procedures.'' Banerjee mooted the concept of annual filing of returns on exports and imports which could take care of licensing hassles.For free trade zones (FTZ) to be successful, he said the government should clearly put down which were the licences required to set up an export oriented unit (EOU). A clear entry andexit policy and a time-bound legal system were a must for the concept of FTZS to be successful, Banerjee said.The joint director general of foreign trade Subrat Ratho was of the view that a draft of the Exim policy could be circulated among the trade and industry circles for incorporating their opinion before it is formulated.He also suggested that trade and industry should also come out with a draft Exim policy on the lines of citizen's charter which the government could consider before formulating the policy.
