Declining exports: FinMin examining proposals to give sops
"There are some proposals which Anand Sharma (Commerce and Industry Minister) has discussed with me. They are being examined," Finance Minister P Chidambaram had earlier told PTI in an interview.
The Commerce Ministry, according to an official, has proposed interest subsidy for different sectors like engineering which are reeling under the impact of global economic slowdown.
India's exports fell for the sixth consecutive month in October by 1.63 percent year-on-year, with trade deficit widening to a record USD 21 billion.
For the first seven months (April-October) of the 2012-13 fiscal, exports have shrunk by 6.18 percent to USD 166.92 billion.
The economic crisis in the US and Europe is hitting India's exports. Both these markets account for about one-third of country's total shipments.
"The continuous decline in exports has prompted the worried government to think of extending sops for labour intensive sectors like textiles," the official said.
Sharma has recently admitted that the USD 360 billion exports target is difficult to achieve on the back of global slowdown.
"Interest subvention is critical for some sectors, both from the point of view of manufacturing and exports," the official added.
The Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is reviewing the performance of different exporting sectors and is likely to complete the exercise soon.
After that, the government may come out with some support measures for the sector to arrest the decline.
No fresh funds without utilisation certificate: Finmin
Hard pressed to contain fiscal deficit, the Finance Ministry has directed that no fresh funds should be released to autonomous bodies or NGOs in the absence of utilisation certificate of the money provided to them in the past.
"It has been decided that Grants-in-aid should not be released to any autonomous body or NGO or any other organisation/institution (other than state governments) if it has not submitted all Utilisation Certificates due to rendition," Finance Secretary R S Gujral said in an Office Memorandum.
He further said that this directive would come into force with immediate effect and has asked the secretaries of different ministries and departments to seek specific approvals for any deviation from the guidelines.
The expenditure compression directive will have implications for the agencies which receive grants-in-aid from central government ministries for implementing state-sponsored schemes, programmes and projects.
The directive follows the pre-budget consultations which the Finance Ministry had with other ministries and departments with regard to steps to ensure fiscal prudence and rationalisation of expenditure.
In view of subdued revenue collection and rise in fuel and food subsidy bills, the Finance Ministry has already increased the fiscal deficit target for 2012-13 to 5.3 percent of the GDP (gross domestic product) from 5.1 percent estimated in the budget.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram had already indicated that steps would be taken to restrict the fiscal deficit, which is the difference between total receipts and expenditure, to 5.3 percent.
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