Taking the issues brought by exporters into consideration, Commerce and Industry Minister, Suresh Prabhu said that he is working in a close collaboration with the Finance Ministry and NITI Aayog in order to address the same.

In the recent meeting of the GST Council on Exports chaired by Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, exporters made a case for exemption from import taxes on inputs under popular schemes such as Advance Authorisation and Export Promotion Capital Goods. They argued that many countries with a robust GST regime such as Canada, the EU, Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia provided such relaxation.

However, in a series of tweets, Suresh Prabhu said, “Ensuring growth of exports is our priority. We are working closely with exporters to address their concerns.” We are working in a close collaboration with the finance ministry in order to address issues of exporters, the tweet read.

We are working in close collaboration with @FinMinIndia to address issues of exporters:Addressing blockage of working capital, 2/

— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) September 20, 2017

During the meeting, exporters said that the Finance Ministry officials responded positively to the proposal of exempting from import taxes inputs under schemes such as AA and EPCG. “Earlier they were not willing to consider the proposal at all. But now that they were given details of other countries who were providing such exemptions, they promised to consider it,” the first exporter said.

The minister said that the government will speed up refunds of taxes paid by exporters and making incentives for exporters more attractive.

Addressing blockage of working capital, he also said that the ministry is working closely with NITI Aayog to devise strategic road map for generating employment through exports.

We are working closely with @NITIAayog to devise strategic road map for generating employment through exports 4/

— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) September 20, 2017