Coimbatore: In view of considerable setback in the cotton textile exports during the current year, Powerloom Development and Export Promotion Council (PDEXCIL) has made various suggestions for modifications in the EXIM policy, to boost exports.

In its suggestions to the Centre, the Council said considering the negative export growth of 12.30 per cent, the new export-import (EXIM) policy, to be introduced from April 1, should lay more emphasis on export production as well as exports.

PDEXCIL vice-chairman (S R) M Senthil Kumar said withdrawal of DEPB scheme, which was providing facilities and benefits for development of exports, at a stage when exports were on a downtrend, would seriously affect industry and trade.

The scheme should be continued either in its original form or with minor changes, to provide continuity, he said, adding an announcement about the continuation of the scheme now itself, would remove uncertainty and enable exporters to plan their exports beyond April 2002.

The Council also requested that the condition to work out the value based on the exchange rate prevailed on the date, when the documents were sent on collection, be deleted, to enable the banks to issue Bank Realisation Certificate early in such cases and enable exporters to apply for DEPB early.

Facility of making license transferable, which was withdrawn from April 2000, should be restored for better utilisation of the advance licenses, the Council said.

PTI