International Trade is governed on the basis of various factors including demand and supply, global economic situation and competitive pricing. The government takes steps to improve the competitiveness of Indian goods through steps like improvement in infrastructure and ease of doing business. When India’s exports during April 2015 – February 2016 over the April 2014 – February 2015 declined by 16.7 percent the Government was prompted to take following measures to promote exports: 1. The Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) was introduced in the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) on the 1st of April last year. MEIS aims to incentivise export of merchandise which are produced and or manufactured in India. The annual resource allocation under MEIS was enhanced from Rs. 18000 crore to Rs. 21000 crore in October 2015. 2. The Government has introduced the Interest Equalisation Scheme on Pre and Post Shipment Rupee Export Credit with effect from 1st of April last year. The scheme is available to all exports under 416 tariff lines [at ITC (HS) code of 4 digit] and exports made by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across all ITC (HS) codes. The rate of interest equalisation is 3% per annum. 3. In addition the Government continues to provide the facility of access to duty free raw materials and capital goods for exports through schemes like Advance Authorisation, Duty Free Import Authorisation (DFIA), Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) and drawback or refund of duties. Help farmers boost exports: The Government is implementing a number of measures and incentives for promoting the exports of agricultural products including grapes. The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), under the administrative control of the Department of Commerce extends financial assistance to the eligible exporters under “Agriculture export promotion Plan Scheme” which comprises of various components namely; Market Development; Infrastructure Development; Quality Development; and Transport Assistance. Also, exports of grapes are eligible for an incentive of 5% under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS). In addition to this Grape Net is an internet based electronic service offered by APEDA to the Stakeholders for facilitating testing and certification of Grapes for export from India to the European Union in compliance with the standards identified by NRC Pune, on the basis of consultation with exporters. Grape Net collects, stores and reports – forward and backward traces and quality assurance data entered by the stakeholders i.e. exporters, laboratories and PSC authorities within Grapes supply chain in India. Export of Seafood and Sea Produce: The European Union is a potential market for the export of seafood from India. EU is the largest importer of fish and fishery products in the world. The European Union has set up strict quality regulations for import. Import of marine products are subject to clearance of border inspection post. Some of Indian marine products are being rejected due to presence of banned chemicals, bacterial contamination, presence of heavy metals, poor temperature etc. Implementation of European Union Regulation to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing demands validation of catch certificate for export of sea foods to European Union from 1st January 2010. MPEDA has taken up steps for implementation of catch certificate system. MPEDA has set up 4 quality control laboratories, 19 ELISA screening Labs, 21 sample collection centers etc. to improve quality of exports. Besides this, MPEDA is imparting training to technologists of Indian seafood industry on various aspects of quality control and is also providing infrastructural facilities like pre-processing centers etc.
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