To boost exports and revitalise the agriculture sector, a key trade promotion organisation has recommended to the government to revamp SEZ (special economic zone) policy for food exports.
Accordingly, the Trade Promotion Council of India recommended this step to the government for the upcoming Budget 2020-21.
TPCI Chairman Mohit Singla said: "India has huge potential in the food exports and global investors are looking at SEZ as one destination for investing".
"Due to lack of incentives for value added F&B manufacturing and exports is inhibiting them to come to India," he added.
According to TPCI, foreign investors should be allowed to import raw materials at zero duty and avail duty rebate proportionate to value addition.
Besides, the council recommended that foreign investors should be incentivised by lower duty on value addition "they achieve, especially for the food sector where duty is already high".
"It will lead to automatic clusterisation as the incentive will act as a pull factor. This is one incentives which, if announced, will also be WTO compliant. It is to be noted that, exports from SEZs are growing at a faster rate than overall exports from the country," the TPCI recommendations said.
In April-June 2019, even as overall export growth from India slowed down to 2 per cent valued at Rs 562,000 crore, exports from SEZs posted a robust 15 per cent growth at Rs 185,763 core.
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