Mukherjee releases report on exports costs

NEW DELHI - Union Finance Pranab Mukherjee today released the report of task force on transaction cost in exports.

The task force chaired by Minister of State for commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia was constituted in October 2009 to identify and suggest ways to achieve significant improvement in the functioning of export processes and reduce time and money spent in export transactions, to enhance the competitiveness of Indian exports.

Releasing the report, Pranab Mukherjee said that reducing transaction cost and time in foreign trade requires support of all concerned Ministries / Departments as the value chain of the foreign trade transaction cuts across various inter-connected processes.

He also informed that many discussions were held with various stakeholders and finalized the report suggesting measures to reducing transaction costs and time impacting the country’s foreign trade.

Speaking on the occasion, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said that the average cost to an exporter on account of transaction costs has been monetized at a level of 945 dollar per container as compared to 460 dollar in China, 450 dollar in Malaysia and 625 dollar in Vietnam.

He further said the key benefits of these measures would especially accrue to the small and medium enterprises, who lack resources and infrastructure to deal with various aspects of regulatory framework.

The task force took into consideration various parameters that lead to the overall transaction cost for every export consignment.

On the basis of secondary data analysis and expert opinion, various indicators viz., manpower cost, cost of money locked as a result of bank guarantees / drawback amount and other direct costs were factored into arrive at indicative monetization of transaction cost of relevant issues.

The task force also undertook field visits as well as global bench marketing visit to understand the best practices. (ANI)