New Delhi: In a bid to provide some relief to exporters, hit hard by sharp appreciation in Rupee, Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley will meet Finance Minister Jaswant Singh early next week and seek tax sops, including restoration of income tax exemption.

The two Ministers are expected to meet on Monday (Apr 12, 2004), Government sources said, adding that Jaitley may seek support for tax exemption for Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) scheme and sops under Section 80 HHC of the Income Tax Act for exporting income.

The proposed meeting assumes importance in the wake of exporting community calling on Jaitley yesterday (Apr 8, 2004) to seek Government support on the ground that withdrawal of tax benefit in tandem with declining Dollar was proving detrimental to exporters' interests.

Sources, however, indicated that Government was unlikely to take steps to arrest the rise in Rupee.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO), in a meeting with Jaitley, had demanded that the rate of Dollar should be fixed for exporters for at least one year and exporters should be provided Dollar denominated credit to avoid high interest rate burden.

Apart from asking Government to take steps to protect the exporting community from the perils of hardening Rupee, FIEO also demanded that the move to tax retrospectively the incomes arising out of DEPB should be done away with and tax exemptions be restored under section 80 HHC.