Suresh Prabhu asks ministries to prepare action plan to boost exports

Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday asked various departments and ministries to submit in a fortnight their respective action plans to boost exports.

Prabhu stated that a holistic approach to manufacturing and exports is the need of the hour as the rising protectionist tendencies may actually have a negative impact on value added items of export.

"The action plan should also have short term targets which are achievable in the next two months," he said at the first inter-ministerial meeting on Sectoral Export Promotion Strategy.

He said that exports are strategically important for the country and sustained growth in the shipments is critical for India.

The commerce ministry will take the assistance of the ministry of external affairs to implement the action plans through commercial missions abroad.

Emphasising on the importance of involvement of states in promoting exports, the minister stated that regional authorities of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) have been assigned to work with states to assist them in formulation and implementation of export policy.