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Kochi April 19 The trade and industry here have welcomed the Foreign Trade Policy 2004-09, saying that the Commerce Minister has well appreciated the task of the exporting community braving the challenges to achieve the targets set by the Government.

The President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Mr K. Retnam, said that the expansion of Vishesh Krishi and Gram Udyog Yojana to include coconut oil, meals and flours, cardamom, food preparations, artistic wooden furniture, herbal extracts for forest products are steps in the right direction. Likewise, the new scheme of incentives for agro-processing will enable the sector to acquire facilities for quality sustenance and value-addition.

The special focus on handloom, handicrafts, cottage and tiny industries with a view to modernising these rural based activities and to scale up operations to meet the market challenges and extending the export obligation period under EPCG scheme for tiny and cottage industrial sector are measures of particular interest and benefit to Kerala, he said.

The Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry hailed the move to address the long standing major grievances of trade by providing service tax exemption/remission on services rendered in India and utilised by exporters. The initiative to diversify by tapping hitherto unexplored markets is a good one and the Chamber welcomed the need for further simplification and fine-tuning of existing procedures under various schemes.

The Chamber also appreciated the Commerce Ministry's practical initiatives to provide further momentum to exports growth by encouraging agro exports and employment generation in the agricultural sector. The much-needed impetus for infrastructure development is being addressed for agro sector, which is a long-standing need.

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