Hinting that exports target for current financial year may not be lowered, finance secretary

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RS Gujral on Wednesday said that exporters should be a happier lot with the recent over 10 per cent rupee depreciation.

“Export trends have been good so far. While the first few months of the year showed softness, later months have shown good growth. After growing 82 per cent in July, exports grew 44 per cent in August 2011. They rose by 54 per cent in April-July 2011. My interaction with exporters does not show any immediate impact of the US and EU. I am told so far no decline in getting export orders have been seen,“ said Gujral, who took up the top job in mid-July 2011.

Gujral addressed exporters on new drawback rates and transition from DEPB scheme. Answering a query on revenue loss following migration to drawback scheme, Gujral said a clear picture would only emerge at the end of the year when growth of all segments would be properly measured. The revenue forgone last year on account of DEPB that was effective till October 1 was approximately Rs 8,700 crore.

The top government official also said that exporters should appear more happy. “You have got a huge advantage of 10 per cent rupee depreciation. Today, worries should be for importers. But exporters should be laughing,“ he told exporters at the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) session.

On delay in refund of service tax, CBEC chairman S Majumder said within a fortnight a clarification notification will be issued that may ease the delays.