The AP Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation met with the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Shri Som Parkash on Monday at Visakhapatnam and discussed various matters of significance with him. The representatives – KRB Prakash (Chairman), Sudhir Mulagada (Vice President) and O Naresh Kumar (Vizag Development Council Representative) – requested the Minister to grant Industry status to the logistics sector in India. They also urged him to look into the release of incentives to exporters under the SEIS Scheme, which have been pending since the last two years. Other matters to enhance ease of doing business were also presented to the Minister.
As already done in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, the AP Chambers requested the Minister to grant Industry status to logistics sector throughout the country. According to the point they made, as a result of the industry status, all logistics activities will be considered as industrial activities by the states and will improve the ease of doing business by a large margin. Setting up facilities on industrial land becomes highly cost effective in terms of land acquisition & conversion, property tax, and construction activity. It also attracts investments from various infra supporting initiatives.
Under the SEIS Scheme of the Indian government, service providers located in India are to be rewarded for all eligible export of services. It aims to promote export of services from India by providing duty scrip credit for eligible exports. The incentives under the SEIS scheme have been pending since the last 2 years and by releasing them, the exporters’ working capital will increase and the interest burden on capital borrowings will decrease.
The Chambers also requested him to exempt SEZ material inputs and rental enhancement for 2020 and 2021, considering the COVID crisis persistent during these years.
Another matter discussed was the many tonnes of wheat being stuck on various ports in India, including the Vizag Port, which along is harbouring 1.6 lakh MT of wheat ( worth INR 400 crore). They said that the there is a possibility of extensive damage to the crop harvest lying on the ports due to the monsoon season, and export of such perishable cargo should be facilitated by the government at the earliest.
