Exporters may get 50% freight subsidy

Bhubaneswar : Exporters are likely to enjoy a subsidy of up to 50 per cent on total freight charges paid on shipment of merchandise through ports outside Odisha.

The draft export policy says the state government will reimburse up to 50 per cent of the cost of transportation paid by exporters at ports outside the state provided ports within the state do not have facilities for handling such cargo.

Exporters would also get incentives for publicity and exposure of up to 50 per cent of the total cost subject to a ceiling of Rs 50,000. But such incentives will be allowed only in case of select reputed trade fairs. Besides, firms availing travel support from government of India under similar scheme will not be eligible for state incentive.

The draft policy is aimed at identifying sectors which are already contributing or have the potential to contribute to exports. It also seeks to identify the bottlenecks which need to be overcome to enable the sectors to realise their full potential. Infrastructure constraints have to be overcome to boost exports.

The state’s investment promotion agency Industrial Promotion &Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (Ipicol) will provide technical inputs to the director, export promotion & marketing (EPM) in areas related to export policy, incentives and other important issues.

The thrust of the policy is to boost exports in the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) sector. Sectors with potential for exports include handicrafts, handloom, textiles,engineering and chemicals, marine products, agro and forest products, pharmaceuticals, electronics and software products, gems and jewellery.

Odisha’s overall exports stood at Rs 2382.83 crore on 2001-02 and has been consistently growing since then. Apart from metallurgical and mineral products that have a lion’s share in the export basket, agriculture &forest products, handloom products, handicrafts products, textile products, gems & jewellery products and pharmaceutical products are also exported from the state.

Source : dailyshippingtimes.com