Action taken on issues/suggestions put forth by the members of BoT meeting held on
02.12.2020
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
1 Arunachal Pradesh i. The border trade from Pangsau Pass through
Land Custom Station Nampong to be included
as Border trade point for trade between India
and Myanmar. (Action – DoC)
ii. Border Haats between the border of India and Myanmar may be finalized, at the earliest.
(Action – DoC)
iii. Integrated Check Post at Pangsau Pass may
be setup on the model of ICP at Moreh.
Government of India is also requested to take
up a road project from Pangsau pass to Tenai to
be fully funded by GoI as it is between Tamu to
Kalemyo between Manipur and Myanmar.
(Action – DoC/LPAI-MHA)
Pangsau Pass has not yet been listed
in the approved locations of LCSs for
development into Integrated Check
Post. LPAI will take action as and
when this location is approved for
development into ICP
iv. An Export oriented Industrial Park may also
be set up in Arunachal Pradesh to support local
industries. (Action – DoC)
v. Financial assistance may also be provided to
set up international integrated domestic trade centre and integrated common facility center
with various facilities for the local industries in
a feasible location. (Action – DoC)
2 Assam i. Land Customs Stations in Assam (Sutarkandi,
Golokganj, Mankachar, Darranga), may be
developed to help farmers of Assam for exports
of fruits
and vegetables etc. (Action – DoR)
Land acquisition process for
development of LCS at Sutarkandi in
the State of Assam is under process
with the State Government.
However, partial operations of
Border Trade Centre (BTC) has
already commenced from 7"
September, 2019. The Land Customs
Stations at other locations
(Golokganj, Mankachar, Darranga) will be developed by D/o Revenue,
CBIC.
ii. Many items are restricted for export/import
from land ports. More items may be included to
benefit Assam and the North Eastern region
(Action – DGFT)
The proposal is being shared with
MHA and DoR for taking necessary
action
iii. Need to revisit import/export duty of some
items such as Limestone which Bangladesh
imports from India, manufactures cement and
exports it to India. Likewise, for plastic also the
raw material is imported by Bangladesh from
India and finished goods are sent back to India.
While raw materials are imported at lower duty for finished goods, the import duty is high in
Bangladesh. (Action – DoR)
iv. Tamo-Moreh area Trilateral Highway must
be completed at the earliest. Request Ministry
of Commerce and Industry to take the issue
with MEA to complete the 3 pending bridges to
finish this project. This will benefit the whole
North Eastern Region. (Action – MEA/DoC )
iv. Tamo-Moreh area Trilateral Highway must
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
be completed at the earliest. Request Ministry
of Commerce and Industry to take the issue
with MEA to complete the 3 pending bridges to
finish this project. This will benefit the whole
North Eastern Region. (Action – MEA/DoC )
3 Bihar i. To assist the Commerce and Industries Department of the State to formulate the State
Export Strategy since the report prepared by
FIEO is incomplete. (Action – DoC/DGFT)
The matter was forwarded to FIEO for examine and FIEO informed that
Department of Commerce, GoI
entrusted FIEO to undertake Study to
prepare Export Strategies of five
states (including Bihar) during 2018-
19. With respect to Bihar,
stakeholders’ consultations and field
visits were undertaken (including
Patna, Gaya, Hajipur, Muzaffarpur,
and Motihari). Further consultations
were also held with Bihar Industries
Association as well with officials from State Govt. Also the views of
Director Technical, Government of
Bihar were also incorporated during
the course of this study. Accordingly,
the final report was submitted on
26th September, 2019. Upon follow-
up with State for views / acceptance
of the report, FIEO received a copy
of the enclosed letter dated 23th
December, 2019 informing that
report is being forwarded to Exim Bank to include finding of the report
in the comprehensive export
document being prepared by them.
FIEO, in view of the above, pleaded
that the document prepared by them
was found in order by the State.
ii. ICD with dry and cold chain storage facilities
and container depot facilities may be developed
in major Districts of the State. Greenfield dry
port facilities may also be developed in the State since it is a landlocked State with
contribution from both the State and Central
Government. (Action – DoR)
iii. For agricultural products, air Cargo facilities
may be started in Darbhanga, Muzzafarpur,
Patna, Gaya etc. (Action – MoCA)
iv. FIEO office in Patna may be started even
though the land was provided but still nothing
has moved on it. (Action – DoC)
v. For setting up Textile park in Bihar, 25-50
acre land is not available therefore, this
requirement may be reduced. (Action – M/o.
Textiles)
vi. Varanasi to Kolkata Highway from Bihar
may be started at the earliest. Frequency of
Domestic flights from Bihar may also be increased. (Action –
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
MoRTH))
vii. Land may be provided to the Bihar
Government near the big ports in Maharashtra
or Orissa to build godowns for storage of goods
for exports. This will promote exports of
products like Litchi, Makhana, Mango etc. from Bihar. (Action –States Cell, DoC/M/o.
Shipping)
Bihar Government can approach
ports in Orissa and Maharashtra to
identify potential land parcels and the
modalities of engagement. JNPT has
more than 6000 acres of land parcel, with 685 acres available under SEZ
development by 2021. 700 acres of
land had been proposed by Paradip
Port Trust to be developed under
Smart Industrial Port City Project.
Else, Bihar Government can also
approach respective state
governments to offer land parcels
near the Major ports to build the
godowns. Many state governments
have large land parcels dedicated for industrial clusters near big ports.
4 Gujarat i. Ceramic sector is growing fast even during
these testing times. The Certificate of Origin is
issued by only few chambers, it is requested to
include more associations, such as Morbi
Chamber of Commerce from Gujarat to issue
COO to reduce time and charges. (Action –
DGFT )
Morbi Chamber of Commerce has
been requested to apply in Annexure
I of the Appendix -2E of Appendices
available at the following link:
https://content.dgft.gov.in/Website/d
gftprod/04ccf0e6-bb19-43eb-8b38-
a7378b4715e9/APPENDIX%202E-
C%20(CERTIFICATES%20OF%20
ORIGIN-
%20NON%20PREFERENTIAL)%202015-25.09.2020.pdf
ii. Customs may be directed to reduce time
taken for checking goods before exporting. The
inspection of goods by Customs takes a lot of
time and there is a need to look to reduce time
and resources required for exports.(Action –
DoR)
iii. National Highway from Morbi to Mudra is
not in good shape and urgent repair may be
required. (Action – MoRTH )
iv. Surat requires a full fledged Foreign Post
office which includes all Customs processes at
one place. (Action – DoR)
v. Courier agencies are not allowed in Custom offices in SEZs and they are routed only
through CHAs. The issue of allowing couriers
may be considered. (Action – DoR)
vi. There are reports of Tax Evasion/ Under
invoicing for Mosquito Racquets imported from
China. Lot of tax evasion is going on in this
sector. The domestic manufactures are getting
affected. Mis-declaration is also another issue at
the ports which leads to tax evasion. Customs
may be asked to look into it. (Action – DoR)
vii. TMA is given to Agricultural products. It
can be introduced for other labour intensive
sectors. (Action – DGFT/DoC)
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
viii. Import of items which are restricted, may
be allowed in cases where out of the total
export, import of such items is only 3-4 percent.
(Action – DGFT)
Import of “Restricted “ items is
allowed on the basis of the
application made by the applicant
and inputs/NoC granted by the
concerned administrative Ministry.
5 Karnataka i. Establishment of US Consulate at Bengaluru: The state accounts for 41% share in the
country’s services exports including IT and
ITeS. Currently professionals have to travelto
Chennai to obtain US Visa. Recognised as the
‘Silicon valley’ of the Country, housing the US
Consulate in Bengaluru will provide fillip to the
Service Sector. (Action : MEA)
ii. Allocation of separate HS Code for
Bengaluru Rose Onions : This issue has been
raised earlier Board of Trade meeting too.
(Action : DGFT)
Issue has already been taken up with
DoR vide OM dated 14.12.2020
(copy attached as Annexure-I).
iii. Development of Gherkin Seeds within the
country: Gherkin being 100% exportable plant produce and is extensively grown in Karnataka.
The seeds are currently being imported.
Gherkin has not been considered as a mandate
crop for Research and Development and local
seeds to be developed by
IIHR. (Action – Ministry of Agriculture)
iv. Establishment of Indian Institute of
Packaging in Karnataka: A team from Ministry
of Commerce visited Bengaluru, Belagavi and
Hubballi to explore the infrastructure facility to
set up IIP on a temporary basis. (Action – DoC)
v. The Inland Container Depot that was
established at Desur, Belagavi has stopped
functioning since October 2019 and it was informed that the new ICD would be
established at Sambra, Belagavi. Request to
consider establishment of ICD at Sambra.
(Action – DoR)
vii Upgradation of Hubballi Air Cargo as
International Air Cargo hub: (Action – MoCA)
viii) Establishment of Air Cargo facility at
Kalaburagi Airport: Kalaburagi is strategically
located in the North Karnataka region and is
neighbouring Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
with a huge potential of exports of goods from
the region. (Action – MoCA)
ix) Establishment of Spice Parks at Haveri and
Shivamogga (Action – DoC)
Copy of DoC’s O.M. No. 8/3/2020-
Plant-D dated 11.1.2021 (copy attached attached as Annexure-II).
x) Establishment of Marine Export facility at
Kulai, Dakshina Kannada under TIES scheme
of Government of India: (Action – DoC)
xi) Engineering Industries - Offshore
Warehouse facility - Shipping liners be
requested for resolution of this issue. (Action –
DoR)
xii) Plastic Industries: Supply of polypropylene
- Basic raw material requirement for plastic
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
components from MRPL is a big
challenge/bottleneck, with inadequate support
from MRPL. (Action – DoC)
6 Madhya Pradesh (i)Madya Pradesh being located in central India
requests for a dedicated multi modal park which
could connect all places in India (Action – DoC)
(ii)To set up Cold Chain and warehousing
facilities for agri products in State.(Action –
MoFPI)
(iii)Establishing a certification facility for
organic products besides an APEDA office
which would benefit agricultural activities.
(Action – DoC)
A state owned Certification Body
(CB) accredited under NPOP,
Madhya Pradesh State Organic
Certification Agency (MPSOCA) is
already accredited by the National
Accreditation Body (NAB) under
National Program for Organic
Production (NPOP) for certification
of organic products. The Certification Body is based in
Bhopal. In addition, one Private
Certification Body, Fair Cert
Certification Services Pvt. Ltd.,
Khargone is also accredited under
NPOP.
The correspondence address of both
the Certification Bodies are given as
under:
Madhya Pradesh State Organic Certification Agency
Mr. K.S. Tekam
Managing Director
Address: Vasundhara, B-II Office
Complex
Gautam Nagar
Bhopal 462 023
Madhya Pradesh
Tel : 0755 2600609
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.mpsoca.org
Fair Cert Certification Services Pvt.
Ltd.,
Dr. Pushkar Kulshrestha
CEO
1st Floor, Jaiprakash Club
Rahat Medical College,
in front of Krishna Vatika,
Mangrual Road,
Khargone
Madhya Pradesh 451001
Tel : +91-7282-231271/203017 Fax : +91-7282-231271
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.faircert.com
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
However, all the CBs accredited
under NPOP can operate anywhere in
the Country, including Madhya
Pradesh.
(iv)Establishment of Inland Container Depot.
(Action – DoR)
(v)To improve Air cargo facility at Bhopal for exports (Action – MoCA)
7 Meghalaya (i)Setting up a new border haat and for
according approval to the proposal for one more
land custom station in the State. (Action –
DoC/LPAI-MHA)
Border Haat: Presently out of four
operational
Border Haats, two are in Meghalaya
[Kalaichar and Balat. Further, India
and Bangladesh had agreed to
establish 2 more Border Haats in
Tripura and 4more Border Haats in
Meghalaya on India Bangladesh
Border. The construction in respect
of Border Haats at Bholaganj,
Nalikata and Ryngku (all in Meghalaya) are completed. In respect
of Border Haat at Shibbari, the
Bangladesh side has proposed to
relocate the site.
In addition to above, in the 2™
meeting of Joint Committee on
Border Haats held on 23-24 April
2019 at Sylhet, Bangladesh, both
sides discussed}and identified the
locations for the six new Border
Haats, two (Kilapara and Huroi) of which are in Meghalaya.
LCS: A request from CM,
Meghalaya was received in regard to
new LCS at Maheshkhola, South
West] Khasi Hills District. The
request was made to CBIC to furnish
their views/comments on the issue. In
response, CBIC has intimated that
opening another LCS in such close
proximity may not be encourage!unless the LCS at Barsora
is unable to handle its volume of
trade, which is not the case as of
now, The proposal of a new LCS at
Maheskhola can be revisited at later
time.
(ii)Road infrastructure in the state is very bad
and infrastructure needs to be improved.
(Action – MoRTH)
(iii)To set up a Trade Centre to help boost
exports. (Action – DoC)
8 Mizoram (i)Capacity building on Export-Import
procedures and modalities and handholding of
the officials from Department of Commerce.
(Action – DoC)
(ii) Consultancy and transaction advisory
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
support for handholding the state in the
preparation and implementation of the State
Export Plan and District Export Promotion
Plan. (Action – DoC)
9 Odisha (i) To develop riverine sea port and support new
one coming up inAstaranga. The private sea ports in Gopalpur and Dhamra need to be
upgraded as they have lot of opportunities.
(Action – DoR)
(ii) Need for Air cargo hubs and port as these
two can only help realize the dream of trillion
dollar export by 2025. (Action – MoCA)
(iii) In Paradip, the major seaport in Odisha,
there is 85 kilometres of trucks waiting outside
Port trust area which needs to be reduced,
which will help in improving export movement.
(Action – DoR)
(iv) To set up Niryat University for achieving 1
trillion export target providing
education through IT and electronics. (Action – DoC)
10 Punjab (i) Implementation of Eastern dedicated
corridor as well as Western dedicated corridor
is delayed and the sooner it gets completed the
better it is for trade. (Action – DPIIT)
This point is not related to DPIIT.
Implementation of Eastern Freight
Dedicated Corridor (EDFC) and
Western Freight Dedicated Corridor
(WDFC) project are being
implemented by Ministry of
Railways. Therefore, it is proposed
that the same may be forwarded to
M/o Railways for
comments/necessary action.
(ii) CONCOR and other inland freight container
corporations have made cartels and charge
excessively, this issue needs to be redressed. (Action – Railways)
(iii) Revival of Indo Pak border trade through
Attari border at Amritsar and the need for a dry
port at Attari. (Action – DoC)
The State Government’s request is
being examined in consultation with
the concerned stakeholders.
(iv)Bilateral negotiation with Iran or even
trilateral negotiations with US administrationto
increase basmati rice exports from Punjab.
(Action – DoC)
The next round of PTA negotiation
with Iran is due. The issue regarding
increase of basmati rice may be taken
up during the discussion.
(v) There is a small link of 40 KMs between
Atari and Wagah through Makhu and Zira
which needs to be connected by Railways and
Government of Punjab is in the process of
acquiring the land for Railways so as to have
access to the Western Freight corridor.
(vi) Improvement of Air cargo infrastructure at Amritsar for perisbale cargo. (Action – MoCA)
vii. GOI should leverage import quotas for
horticulture products to South East Asian
countries specially Punjab oranges and keenu,
which could be a game changer for Punjab , as
it tries to change its dependence on agriculture,
from cereals to grain, berry, fruits and
vegetables . (Action – DoC)
viii. Implementation of SAFTA customs duty Regarding requesting Bangladesh
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
rates uniformly, for all member countries
(especially Bangladesh & Pakistan) for Bicycle
& Bicycle parts, (which fall under SAFTA non
sensitive list). (Action – DoC)
and Palistan to reduce duties, the
request for reduction needs to be
taken up through SAFTA
mechanism, in which meetings are
currently not being held. In case of Bangladesh, both countries are
exploring the possibility of entering
into a CEPA, during the course of
such negotiations such request may
be examined.
ix. RoSTCL - The last date for claiming
benefits is one year from the date of export,
therefore MOC&I is requested to intervene and
expedite the online system on priority. (Action
– DGFT)
The online system is working since
February 2020 for RoSCTL Scheme.
x. Increase the budget for MAI Scheme so as to
allow the exporting entities to participate in four
exhibitions in a financial year from the two presently.(Action – DoC)
xi. IGST paid on exports is to be refunded on
submission of proof of exports. The refund
against refund applications, whether filed online
or in physical form, are often delayed as a result
of which liquidity of the exporters is badly
affected. Section 56 of the CGST Act provides
for payment of interest on refunds delayed
beyond 60 days from date of filing. The GST
refund process should be made more effective
so that the exporters do not wait longer for their
GST refunds. (Action – DoR)
Refund process has been made
completely online w.e.f. 26.09.2019.
It is pertinent to mention that since
the digitization of the refund process
on 26th September 2013, a total of
2,25,280 refund applications
involving an amount of Rs. 74,472
crore were
filed with CGST authorities. Of these
2,15,822 cases (96%)} involving an
amount of Rs. 70,095 crore (94%)
had already been disposed of as on 14.01.2021. Only 0.5% (1026 cases)
were pending for more than 60 days.
As such, the refund sanction process
has been quite effective.
xii. The Technology Up-gradation Fund
Scheme (TUF) specifies the names of the
machines which are eligible to be imported
under it so as to avail the incentives under TUF
as well as Credit Linked Capital Subsidy
Scheme (CLCS). However a number of latest
machines and technologies are not covered
under the TUF list. The TUF scheme should be implemented for all
machines and technologies which are not
available in India. Action – M/o. Textiles)
xiii. TIE - There are four projects presently
running under TIE Scheme in the PSIEC and
the State government intends to utilize the
scheme for more industrial clusters. However
due to financial constraints of the State it is
requested that the GOI share of grant should be
raised to 75% from the present 50%. (Action –
DoC)
xiv. Exporters while applying visa
simultaneously for many countries, face
inordinate delays when their passports get stuck in one embassy. Some countries like Poland
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
have a system of issuing two passports at a time
to Exporters. MEA is requested to consider this.
(Action – MES)
xv. Sharing/Leakage of commercial data
(including personal data) hampers sale
strategies in overseas markets. Competitors / customers/dealers are able to view all this data
and such data leakage causes difficulties while
negotiating with potential foreign customers. As
such, there should be proper guidelines /
regulations imposed on customs/freight
forwarders preventing them from sharing
confidential business data and should attract
stringent punishment for data privacy
violations. (Action – DoR)
xvi. Expedite the Air Cargo infrastructure
development at Chandigarh International
Airport. (Action – MoCA)
11 Tamil Nadu i. Govt. of Tamil Nadu is ready to acquire `Salt land’ which can then be used to set up export
oriented units.(Action – DoC)
ii. Tamil Nadu seeks support to set up a leather
export park – (Action – DPIIT)
There is no proposal for setting up of
leather export park received under
Indian Footwear Leather and
Accessories Development
Programme (IFLADP) scheme.
However, a preliminary proposal
regarding setting up of Mega Leather
Footwear and Accessories Cluster
(MLFAC) at Tamil Nadu was
received from State Industries
Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (SIPCOT). Since the
proposal did not cover major features
as per MLFAC sub-scheme
guidelines, therefore, SIPCOT was
asked to submit fresh proposal
meeting project requirements as per
scheme guidelines.
iii. SEZ – duty exemption be extended to
contractors (Action – DoC)
iv. Filing of applications for SEIS and MEIS
has stopped which needs to be looked into to
help exporters. (Action – DGFT)
The applications for MEIS for FY
2019-20 and FY 2020-21 and for
SEIS for FY 2019-20 are not being
accepted at present due to limited funds in this Financial year 2020-21.
The Department of Commerce is in
active consultation with the
Department of Revenue to get
suitable funds.
12 Telangana i. Improve export data traceability for
agricultural produce/other products
manufactured in state of Telangana. It is almost
impossible to know the specifics as to which
state and/or farm they are originating. It would
also enable us accomplish Govt of India’s
ODOP/districts as export hub objectives.
(Action - DGCIS/DoC/DoR)
State-wise export figures are
compiled by DGCI&S on the basis of
the state-of origin code reported by
the exporters in the shipping bills.
However, no validation is done at
DGCI&S as there 1s no scope to
judge the correctness of the reported
state of origin code.
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
As far as Export from undivided
Andhra Pradesh is concerned, a
yearly average of 14.44 Billion USD
worth commodities exported from
the state during 2010-11 and 2013-14. However, from 2014-15 onward,
after inception of new State
Telangana, the yearly average value
of Exports of Andhra Pradesh comes
out to be 13.65 Billion USD (till
2019-20) as per the data available
with DGCI&S.
Telangana, on the other hand, has
shown an increasing trend in Exports
since 2014-15 and averages 5.78
Billion USD per year (till 2019-20).
DGCI&S has provided free access to its data dissemination portal to the
Commerce and Export Promotion
Department, Govt. of Telangana by
assigning User ID-Password which
has been used by the said department
on a regular basis.
This is also to inform that District-
wise trade data is currently not
available with
DGCI&sS.
ii. Incentivise exports to clear customs in
respective state /CFS (Action – DoC)
iii. Availability of containers, reduces costs to exporters (Action – DoR)
iv. Attract higher investments into the logistics
sector (Action – DoC)
v. Reduce gap between exports and Imports
(Action – DGFT)
vi. Reduces load on JNPT and other ports
(Action – Ministry of Shipping)
Development of Vadhavan-
JNPT cluster (in phases) on West
Coast is underway. Union Cabinet in
its meeting held on 5th Feb, 2020 has
granted in principle approval to
develop Vadhavan Port in Landlord
model by an SPV incorporated under
Companies Act, 2013 with JNPT as
lead partner. The project proposal for investment is under preparation and
detail study on Engineering and EC
Clearance would be completed by
July 2021. Port Limit has been
notified on 19th February 2020.
Given the container traffic
potential in North Maharashtra and
Gujarat cluster, the Vadhavan-JNPT
cluster can act as a Mega Port to
upcoming West Coast traffic. The
Vadhavan-JNPT port cluster
connects with DFC and Mahasamrudhi Marg. Therefore, it
can cater to cargo from North &
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
Central India efficiently. It is
strategically situated to cater to
primary hinterlands of Maharashtra
(Mumbai, Pune, Nashik,
Aurangabad, etc.) and secondary hinterlands of Southern Gujarat and
Madhya Pradesh. Vadhavan can also
act as a gateway port for EXIM cargo
of the Tarapur industrial area e.g.,
steel rods, steel coils, scrap, etc.
Moreover, port-land can be utilized
to setup suitable industries such as
Agri industries, food industries,
reefer facilities, etc.
vii. Increases demand for local warehousing be
addressed (Action – D/o.
Food/DoC – Logistics Division)
viii. Offers last mile connectivity benefits in the State. (Action – MoRTH)
13 Rajasthan i. To encourage small exporters by providing
working capital – GST to be reduced to 0.25%
on semiprecious gem stone. Import duty on
precious and semi-precious stone be reduced
from 7.50% to 2.50%.(Action – DoR)
ii. GST on guar gum to be abolished like done
on soyabean.(Action – DoR)
iii. Notification regarding export of mustard oil
in packing of 5 litres needs to be done away.
(Action – D/o. Food )
iv. GST refund to international tourists scheme
needs to be implemented immediately(Action –
DoR)
GST refund to International Tourists
Scheme is under consideration and
will be implemented after approval
of GST council in due course.
v. Import duty on gold and silver to be reduced
to 4% from 12.5%.(Action – DoR)
vi. Rajasthan Export Promotion Council to be notified multisectoral council and may be
allowed to issue RCMC and CoO.(Action –
DGFT)
The request was examined in consultation with DoC but could not
be acceded. Authorising REPC to
issue RCMCs will be inconsistent
with the provisions of the Foreign
Trade Policy, however it has been
informed that they can apply to be
recognized as an agency authorized
to issue CoO (NP) under Appendix
2E of the HBP 2015-2020.
vii. Setting up of National Institute of Design at
Jaipur. (Action – DPIIT)
Government of India had recently
established four new NIDs at Bhopal
(Madhya Pradesh), Jorhat (Assam), Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) and
Kurukshetra (Haryana) covering
country's Western, Eastern, Southern
and Northern parts respectively. At
present, Government of India has no
plan to set up any new NIDs. In case
need to establish more NIDs is felt,
the case of establishment of NID at
Jaipur will be duly considered.
viii. To develop artificial jewellery
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
manufacturing hub at Jaipur and NCR. (Action
– DoC)
ix. To allocate 150 crores fund for gem bourse.
(Action – DoC)
x. ECGC coverage to all exporters and
manufacturers. (Action – DoC)
14 UT of Andman &
Nicobar Islands
i. Declaration of all ports in Andman & Nicobar
Islands as Customs Ports (Action – DoR)
ii Declaration of all the Ports in Andaman & Nicobar Islands as Plant Quaratine Ports
(Action – Ministry of Agriculture)
iii. International Air Connectivity – Start of
International flights from Veer Savarkar
Airport, Port Blair to increase tourism and trade
activities(Action – MoCA)
iv. Notification of ports of Ranong and Phuket
of Thailand, ports of Lankavi, Lumut and Klang
of Malaysia, North ports of Indonesia to
improve trade between these Islands and
neighbouring South East Asian Counrties
(Action – Ministry of Shipping)
The STCW Convention,
1978 as amended in 1995 introduced
the provision of NCV certification.
Accordingly, India entered into
agreement with neighbouring states
i.e. Bangladesh, Myanmar, Maldives
and Sri Lanka to have uniform
syllabus and certification process
with regard to Certification of
seafarers sailing on ship operation on
Near Coastal Voyages (NCV). The
STCW Convention was further
amended in 2010 after the adoption
of the Manila amendments. After the
2010 amendments, DG (Shipping)
revised the training and certification
process to bring it in conformity with
the 2010 amendments. The BIMMs
1997 agreement was, however, not
taken up for amendments due to
changes in the provisions of STCW
Convention. Instead, Merchant
Shipping Notice 14 of 2012 was
issued on the basis of which it
became possible for Indian seafarers
having NCV certificates to work on
ship of all countries including the
neighbouring countries within the
designated NCV limits, subject to
acceptance of concerned member
State of IMO. It may also be
mentioned that the 2010 amendment
to the STCW Convention has
introduced a mandatory provision at
regulation A-I/3 as follows:
Quote:
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
It is not intended that ships
engaged on near-coastal voyages
extend their voyages worldwide,
under the excuse that they are
navigating constantly within the
limits of designated near coastal
voyages of neighbouring Parties’
Unquote
It may further be mentioned
that all Indian ships and ships of
neighbouring countries can trade
anywhere in the world including
ports in Thailand, Indonesia and
ASEAN countries, subject to the
condition that ships and seafarers on
board ships comply with all
applicable international instruments.
The ships would need to comply with
all aspects, including those related to
safety, security, pollution and
liabilities etc. (i.e. SOLAS,
MARPOL, Tonnage, Load line etc.).
In addition, seafarers employed on
the ship would need to comply with
requirements of STCW Convention
and applicable provisions of the
MLC Convention 2006.
In view of the foregoing, to include
other countries, the BIMMS
agreement would need to be
amended. However, this amendment would address only issues pertaining
to seafarers and not those pertaining
to ships as all ships will be required
to comply with the provisions of the
applicable Conventions such as
SOLAS, MARPOL’ Load line MLC
2006’ etc.
15 Manipur i. EXIM financial services at the designated
banks especially on the Myanmar side are not
fully operational. (Action – DFS)
ii. A FOREX Cell at RBI Imphal is required to
facilitate border trade.(Action – RBI)
The issue has been comprehensively
examined. However, after
considering all the aspects including nature and volume of transactions, it
is observed that needs of Manipur
customers are taken care of by
Guwahati Regional Office and hence
opening a Forex Cell at RBI Imphal
is not needed.
iii. ICP at Moreh still does not have e-visa
facility. The matter was also raised in the last
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
Board of Trade Meeting. (Action – DoR)
iv. Govt. of Myanmar should be encouraged to
improve trade facilities as well as banking
infrastructure especially in the areas bordering
Manipur. (Action – DoC)
v. Land Customs Station at Moreh lacks EDI
(Electronic Data Interchange). (Action – DoR/LPAI-MHA)
Technical specification details for the
EDI has been asked from Customs Department vide letters dated
20.09.2019 and 17.12.2019. The
same is being followed up regularly
telephonically but the details are still
awaited from Customs Department.
vi. Lack of Transit Permit for goods imported
from third countries via Myanmar. (Action –
DoR)
vii. Introduction of travel card for persons
residing within 16 Km of the international
boundary. (Action – MEA)
viii. Transport subsidy by road for raw material
and finished products should be revived under
NEIDS. (Action – DoC)
Chambers/EPCs
16 Shri S.K. Saraf, FIEO District Export Hub will be successful only by active involvement of district collector.
(Action – DGFT)
Shri Ajay Sahai, FIEO vide mail dated 05.01.2021 has been informed
that District Collectors are already
actively involved in the District as
Export Hub Initiative, as a
Chairperson of the District Export
Promotion Committee (DEPC)
constituted vide the guidelines issued
under OM Dated December 26,
2019.
ii. Under land laws – industrial plot buyer
needs to be absolved for any future land rate
enhancement and litigation and the seller should be made responsible.(Action – DoC)
iii. Class II Tier cities have large private forest
land which is owned by the Government, it
should be made available to industry. Trees
may be planted at the designated land and the
available land be utilized for industrial
development.(Action – MOEF)
17 Dr. Dinesh Dua,
Pharmexil
i. Port congestion needs to be eased.(Action –
Ministry of Shipping)
Ministry of Shipping with
its quest to reduce logistics cost has
introduced Sagarmala Programme in
March 2015. Various projects for
faster evacuation from port have
been articulated in the programme. The study identifies 3 broad levers-
customs efficiency, last-mile
connectivity and process
improvement at ports and road
infrastructures, to implement 21
projects spread across the levers that
will enable reduction of inland transit
time for containers by four to seven
days. Not only transit time reduction
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
but also savings will be generated to
the tune of Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 Cr.
by 2025 through inventory cost
savings.
Over the years, Major Ports have taken several measures for
reducing dwell time and transaction
costs. These include elimination of
manual forms, accommodation for
laboratories to Participating
Government Agencies (PGAs),
facilitation of Direct Port Delivery&
Entry, Installation of Container
Scanners, E-delivery orders, invoice,
payments, RFID based Gate-
automation System, implementation
of port community system (PCS) etc. Further, many more initiatives on
modernization, digitization and
automation are envisaged for Major
Ports under Maritime India Vision
(MIV) 2030 strategic roadmap.
ii. Faceless customs clearance needs
improvement (Acton – DoR)
iii. Freight issue needs to be sorted out as the
prices have gone up by 50%.(Action – DoR)
iv. RoDTEP should cover Pharma sector. All
data has been submitted to RoDTEP
Committee – abolition of MEIS will be
harmful to the industry. Embedded taxation is
also a cause of concern. (Action – DGFT/DoR)
MEIS stands discontinued with effect
from 01.01.2021 and the transition to
RoDTEP has been initiated. The
coverage of an item under the
RoDTEP Scheme would depend on multiple factors, including the funds
available to implement the scheme.
18 Shri Govind Lele,
Laghu Udyog Bharti
i. Third party invoicing in imports facing
severe problem under faceless assessment by
Customs.(Action – DoR)
ii. Great potential for North East states to
export to Nepal and Bangladesh. But high
import duties in those countries is affecting
exports. Also imports are coming from those
countries with lower duties affecting our
economy. (Action – DoC)
The issues regarding high import
duties in Bangladesh and Nepal are
taken up in the bilateral negotiations
with these countries held time to
time.
iii. Plastic pricing going up heavily around
200-300%. Pricing in PVC & other materials
is causing trouble to MSMEs. This needs to be addressed.(Action – DoC)
19 Ms. Sangeeta Reddy,
FICCI
i. Drawn attention on detailed Report on Ease
of Doing Business FICCI is doing. (Action –
DPIIT)
The matter has been discussed with
the representatives of FICCI and
found that there is no such report on
Ease of Doing Business prepared by
FICCI. Hence, information/inputs
may be treated as Nil.
ii. RoDTEP scheme should be modified, at the
earliest. (Action – DoR).
iii. As part of State Export Strategy – 600
districts products ODOP virtual platform is
being launched. (Action – DGFT/DoC)
The matter is under progress.
20 Shri Abhay Sinha, i. SEIS is facing a lot of issues. Alternative Report from SEPC is awaited.
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
SEPC scheme to SEIS is being drafted and will be
shared soon. (Action – DGFT)
ii. Request for new SEIS notification for
disbursement of SEIC for the year 2019-2020.
(Action – DGFT)
The Department of Commerce is in
active consultation with the
Department of Revenue to get
suitable funds before notification of rates and categories for SEIS for FY
2019-20 can be done.
iii. Follow up with State Governments on
setting up of Services State Centre in every
state is being done. (Action – TPD, DoC)
21 Shri Elian Sait, Seafood
Exporters Association
i. Request for release of MEIS benefits, at the
earliest. (Action – DGFT)
Concerns of the Association have
been noted.
ii. Cap of Rs.2 crores is a major concern as
most of exporters are MSMEs.(Action –
DGFT)
Concerns of the Association have
been noted.
iii. RoDTEP scheme to be launched
immediately. (Action – DoR)
iv. Early concluding of FTA negotiation with
EU (Action – DoC)
v. EIA is already issuing certifications,
therefore, no need for allowing FSSAI for
certification. (Action – DoC)
vi. Lack of availability of container from Shipping companies for
exports(Action – Ministry of Shipping)
Container shortage
experienced presently is a worldwide
phenomenon and not exclusive to
India. The Covid-19 pandemic has
led to disruption in movement of
goods as there is rise in demand for
certain kinds of commodities and
drop in others leading to erratic
distribution of containers and
inadequate availability for exports at
many points. It is expected that the
ramp up of new-build production will
help alleviate some of the ongoing
container equipment shortages.
However, the greatest impact will
come from a normalization of cargo
demand development and carrier
sailing schedules, as Covid-19
related disruption unwinds through
the first half of 2021.
vii. Move to shift MPEDA to Fisheries
Ministries needs to be stopped. (Action – DoC)
22 Shri Vikramjit Sahney,
SAARC Chamber of
Commerce & Industry
i. Production Link Incentive Scheme with 10
products should also have some sort of
concessional funding for investment for which
sovereign wealth fund may also be tapped.
(Action – DEA/NITI Aayog)
matters related to investments by
sovereign wealth funds fall within
the purview of DEA and DPIIT.
ii. RoDTEP scheme should cover broader
range of products. (Action – DoR)
iii. Expedite FTA/PTA with US/EU/S Africa.
(Action – DoC)
S.No. State/UT - Ministers/
Government
Issues/Suggestions Comments
iv. Trade with Iran through Asian Clearing
Unit to promoter bilateral trade. (Action –
DoC)
A reference is received from All
India Rice Export Association
(AIREA) in regard to Third Party
payment mechanism in free trade in
freely traded currency for export of basmati rice to Iran. The reference is
under examination in consultation
with concerned division of the
Department of Commerce.
v. Import of Fertiliser from Iran and CIS
countries be promoted. (Action – DoC)
The issue in regard to promote
import of fertilizer from Iran is being
examination by this division with the
concerned department, in the light of
payment issues with Iran and extant
policy.
23 Indian Association of
Tour Operators
i) To continue SEIS for the tour operators:-
Under the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20, a
provision is made for the tour operators to get SEIS benefits every year on their foreign
exchange during 2015-20. It is recommended
that SEIS should be continued 2021-26.
(Action – DGFT)
The applications for MEIS for FY 2019-20 and FY 2020-21 are not being accepted at present due to limited funds in this Financial year 2020-21. The Department of Commerce is in active consultation with the Department of Revenue to get suitable funds.
ii) Pending SEIS for Financial Year 2019-20
be announced:- (Action – DGFT) The Department of Commerce is in active consultation with the Department of Revenue to get suitable funds before notification of rates and categories for SEIS for FY 2019-20 can be done.
iii) Increase of SEIS percentage in Foreign
Trade Policy – 2021-26 to 15% during off
season and 10% during season (Action –
DGFT)
SEIS in its current framework may not be extended in the next Foreign Trade Policy
iv) Under EPCG Scheme requirement of
incremental Foreign Exchange Earnings needs
to be removed for import of Vehicles (Action – DGFT)
Vehicles are not allowed under
EPCG Scheme. Therefore, no such
requirement as such exist in the policy.
v) Value based tourist inflow incentives for
MICE Tourists. (Action – Ministry of
Tourism)
vi) Tax Refund for Tourists (TRT) Scheme on
shopping. (Action – DoR)
Annexure-II
No. 8/3/2020-Plant-D Department of Commerce
(Plantation Division)
New Delhi, Udyog Bhawan
Dated the 11" January, 2021
Office Memorandum
Subject: Follow up action on the RoDs of Board of Trade (BoT) meeting held on 2/12/2020 under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Minister of Commerce and Industry.
The undersigned is directed to refer to DGFT’s Email dated 24/12/2020, forwarding a copy of
the Record of Discussion of the above meeting and to say that point No.5{ix) is related to Plantation Division in the Department of Commerce, which is regarding establishment of Spices Parks at Haveri and Shivamogga in Karnataka.
In this regard, it may be mentioned here that Spices Board India was establishing Spice Parks
in major spice growing areas of the country with financial assistance from the Central Government under the scheme of Assistance to States for Developing Export Infrastructure and other Allied Activities (ASIDE),
However, following the downsizing of Assistance to States for Development of Export Infrastructure and Allied activities (ASIDE) and transfer of resources for this purpose to States from 2015-16 onward as part of 14" Finance Commission Award, the Central Government has discontinued making further direct investments in such projects through Spices Board.
However, a new scheme ‘Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES)’ is being implemented
from Financial year 2017-18 onward for creation of export infrastructure. The Scheme provides financial assistance for infrastructure projects having overwhelming export linkages including ‘Spices Parks’. The State Government owned agencies implementing such projects are eligible for financial assistance as per the Scheme guidelines. As per the current practice, with the State Government providing land for the project, the Spices Board would provide necessary technical assistance for establishing the project.
Government of Kamataka vide letter dated 13/10/2020 forwarded a Concept Note on
establishment of Spice Park at Shivamogga for financial support under TIES, which was forwarded to States Cell in the Department of Commerce to consider for financial support under TIES vide this Division’s OM dated 26/10/2020.
No proposal has been received for establishment of Spices Park at Haveri. However, Spices
Board has established a Spice Development Agency (SDA) at Haveri under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary, Govt of Karnataka to co-ordinate the State and Central agencies for implementation of the programmes/projects related to research, development, marketing, quality control and export promotion of spices grown in the State of Karnataka
Sd/- (M.L. Banerjee)
Under Secretary to the Government of India
Tel, No.23061732 To 1, (Kind Attn.: Shri Manoj Kr. Singh, Jt. Director General of Foreign Trade), DGFT, Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi.
2. Director (RL), State Cell, DoC, Copy to: The Seeretary, Spices Board, Kochi.