There is immense scope to increase exports from A.P., says Visakhapatnam GST Commissioner

Exporters urged to adopt technology to comply with regulations and compete in world markets

Commissioner of GST, Visakhapatnam, M.R.R. Reddy, has highlighted the various initiatives taken by his department for facilitating trade and ease of doing business. GST has helped in improving efficiency in the entire value chain of operations, including procurement, manufacturing, warehousing, sales and pricing.

Speaking at the inaugural of a capacity building programme on ‘Districts as Export Hubs’, organised by the Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation (FIEO) in association with the Ministry of Commerce and DGFT, Vizag, here on Tuesday, Mr. Reddy urged exporters to adopt technology to comply with the regulations without any difficulties and to compete in the international market.

Joint Director General of Foreign Trade, Visakhapatnam, B.N. Ramesh, spoke on the export policy and various incentives being given by the State government to promote exports. The Foreign Trade Agreement (FTA) with Australia has concluded recently and India was poised to make FTAs with many more countries in future. The government wants inclusive growth in exports with both small and big players.

There should be diversity in the products being exported and also diversity of exporters. Under the Prime Minister’s dream project of ‘Districts as export hubs’, all districts in Andhra Pradesh would be covered and a notification would be issued shortly in this regard.

In his welcome address, Joint Director General, FIEO, K. Unnikrishnan said that DGFT was the nodal agency for implementation of the foreign trade policy. At the State-level, the State government has formed State Export Promotion Council to monitor the district export plans. The District Industrial and Export Promotion Council would be chaired by the District Collector. Visakhapatnam contributes to 26% of A.P.’s total exports, which makes it the largest district to contribute to exports for the State.

He said that at present Andhra Pradesh ranked sixth among exporting States with a share of 4.6% and within five years it could attain third position by contributing 10% of India’s exports as it was having immense potential to increase manufacturing and value addition in sectors like marine, pharma, healthcare, agro and chemicals. He urged the exporters to focus on UAE and Australia, by utilising the benefits offered under the newly-signed FTAs.

Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Visakhapatnam, P. Jean Jesudass, spoke on the role of Customs in the facilitation of exports.