Govt to announce export stimulus plan: Comm secy

In view of the slowing demand for Indian exports overseas and its repercussions for the Indian industry and the job market, the government may soon announce a stimulus package for Indian exporters to enable them to cope with the shrinking demand for their goods in their biggest markets, namely the US, western Europe and Japan.

In view of the slowing demand for Indian exports overseas and its repercussions for the Indian industry and the job market, the government may soon announce a stimulus package for Indian exporters to enable them to cope with the shrinking demand for their goods in their biggest markets, namely the US, western Europe and Japan.

Commerce secretary GK Pillai said today that the high-powered committee of secretaries set up by the prime minister earlier this month to review the industry8217;s concerns has been in discussions the past few days over the alarming pace of slowdown seen in Indian exports lately and will present its recommendations to the apex committee chaired by the PM on Monday.

The committee of secretaries has already discussions regarding some sectors like textiles, gems and jewellery, leather and auto components, while certain others like marine products will be taken up in the next meeting tomorrow, he said on the sidelines of an interactive session between the industry and the commerce secretary organised by Ficci.

The package, said Pillai, will involve a host of measures aimed at providing relief especially to key labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, leather, handicrafts, etc, to minimise job losses in these sectors.

Pillai added that the stimulus package would be sector-specific, that is, individual concerns of different sectors would be addressed by means of relevant measures. Over concerns that individual bank branches in the interiors may not be willing to lend as easily as a bigger branch, he said they have made suggestions to the finance ministry to manage such credit problems at the micro level.

8220;We8217;ll see if there is a slowdown in lending in a particular bank branch. We will also look at what banks do with all the requests from their customers to have their credit limits raised,8221; he said.