NEW DELHI: Ahead of a key meeting this month, the Commerce Department has asked States to address issues such as easier movement of cargo and skill development for logistics and also identify specific services to give a fillip to exports from India.
Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu is likely to meet Industry Ministers of about 14 States on January 8 and release a report ranking States based on the perception of their logistics and export infrastructure.
"We want States to make cogent export strategies and fine-tune them with specific details," said an official aware of the development.
Prabhu met the Principal Secretaries of States a few days ago to take stock of their export strategies. They were asked to address five components while drawing up the strategies - promotion of services, value addition in goods, promoting organic cultivation, logistics and improved standards, certification and tracebacks. "The meeting held last week was a preparatory one to set a bigger agenda for the meeting on January 8," said another official who was present in the meeting.
Exports are often considered a Central Government domain and States have not seen it as a tool of development as they see industrial investment and infrastructure. The first official said that while all States have mentioned export infrastructure facilities like warehousing and inland container depots, none covered aspects such as ease of cargo movement and development of Multimodal Logistics hubs.
On services, 10 States including Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana have not mentioned specifics that are potential growth sectors.
Source:- Dailyshippingtimes.com
