The Hindu Business Line : Board of Trade working groups constituted to study export issues

THE Commerce and Industry Ministry has constituted five working groups and three special study groups on specific areas of exports to boost the country's exports.

The move to constitute these groups was a fallout of the meeting of the Board of Trade on June 17, which was inaugurated by the Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath. All the five working groups are required to submit their report to the Chairman of the Board of Trade, Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla of the AV Birla group, by the middle of August.

An official release said that Mr Rakesh Shah, Chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), would head the working group on the `evaluation of different export promotion schemes.'

While Mr Prashant Ruia of Essar group will head the working group on the manufacturing sector, Mr Onkar S. Kanwar, President of FICCI, will head the working group on trade facilitation.

The working group on `Identifying specific sectors and strategies having comparative advantages' is to be headed by Mr Ishaat Hussain of Tata Sons. Mr Ravi Raheja of Shoppers Stop will head the working group on `SEZs and EOUs.'

Besides the five working groups, three special groups have been constituted to undertake a sectoral study on textiles and pharmaceuticals and also to study the impact of regional trade agreements (RTAs)/Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) on industry/exports.

The study groups will also submit their reports to the Board of Trade Chairman by the middle of August. While the study on the impact of RTAs/ FTAs will be done by FICCI, the sectoral study on textiles will be jointly undertaken by the Apparel Export Promotion Council, the Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council and Texprocil.

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