Exporters from select labour intensive sectors will be able to access cheaper credit soon as the government prepares to reintroduce an interest subvention scheme in the next couple of months, according to media reports.
“The finance ministry has given us the sanction to extend the interest subvention scheme for exports for three years. We are working out the details of the scheme and hope to be ready with it in two-three months,” commerce secretary Rajeev Kher said at a seminar on the Foreign Trade Policy.
Exporters had been pushing for extension of the subvention scheme since April last year, when the previous scheme had lapsed.
Under the interest subvention scheme, the beneficiary exporters are provided credit at a subsidised rate by banks, which are later compensated by the government. Kher said labour intensive sectors would be given prominence.
The subvention scheme for the current fiscal year, however, may not be much larger than the previous one as the provision of Rs 1,625 crore is only marginally higher than the Rs 1,475 crore spent two years back.
The benefit of a 3 per cent subsidy under the previous interest subvention scheme was available to sectors such as handicrafts, handlooms, carpets, readymade garments, processed agricultural products and the small and medium sector.
