India to Announce National Foreign Trade Policy on Aug 31

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 16 (AGENCIES)- The Indian government will announce the National Foreign Trade Policy on August 31, which will unveil a slew of measures including a comprehensive and consistent strategy to boost agri-products exports.

"I will be presenting the policy on August 31. We are looking at a comprehensive, stable and consistent policy for agri products ... so that the exporters are able to retain the market place and space they develop abroad," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said.

While government was considering bringing out a comprehensive food grain export policy, the fear of an impending drought had led to some uncertainty.

Nath said the government was making all efforts to create a level playing field for Domestic Tarrif area units, Export Oriented units and Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

"In the next three weeks, we will take the first step forward to try set the direction," he said.

Emphasising that taxes and levies should not be exported, he said the government had created a mechanism to neutralise them for exporters and was looking at ways and means to see that states followed the policy.