1.   

Exporters seek refund of state levies, creation of export fund

Ahead of the pre-budget meeting with finance minister, P Chidambaram, on Wednesday, exporters sou­ght refund of certain state levies and setting up of an export development bank to make Indian exports competitive, ensure availability of easy and cheap credit to exporters. “Exports are burdened with the incidence of state and local levies.These levies are making our exports more uncompetitive. Therefore, taxes like VAT, sales tax on petroleum products and octroi should be refunded,” Rafeeque Ahmed, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisation said, adding that the move would provide two-three per cent benefit to exporters, particularly to those dealing in commodities.

2.   

India attempts mango export to South Africa

India has asked South Africa to fast track pest analysis of mangoes to enable export to take place quickly. The issue was raised by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma during his meeting with South African counterpart Rob Davies at Johannesburg, an official in the Commerce Ministry said. "India has requested that the concerned South African Authorities, who are in the process of conducting Pest Risk Analysis for import of mangoes from India, may expedite the process and consider granting market access to Indian mangoes as our request of market access is pending for a long time now," the official said.

3.   

Nashik to get Dutch trade boost

In a bid to strengthen business, trade and industry relations between the Netherlands and India, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the consul general of Netherlands and the Nashik Industries and Manufacturers’ Association (NIMA) on Tuesday. The MoU was signed by BB Bansal, commercial advisor, Consulate General of the Kingdom of Netherlands and Dhananjay Bele, president, NIMA in Nashik. nsul general Maria Little, who was impressed by the district’s agriculture potential after a recent visit, had taken special efforts so that the MoU could be signed.

4.   

RBI opens swap facility to aid export credit

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has opened a special window to provide exporters with dollar credit by allowing banks to borrow the greenback from the central bank under a swap facility.Banks will buy dollars from the RBI for tenures of 3 or 6 months, up to a combined total of USD 6.5 billion, with each having specific limit of how much it can borrow at a rate decided by the central bank.