Exporters seek freight support, flag refund issues with government

Exporters have sought freight support from the government, and flagged the issues of pending goods and services tax (GST) refunds and the status of various export incentive schemes.

In a meeting with commerce and industry ministry on Tuesday, exporters said that freight support is much required. With crude oil prices soaring to their highest since 2008 at $139 per barrel amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, container rates have risen ten-fold in less than a fortnight while war insurance premiums are up 3-5%, as per sources.

“We are unable to execute exports as most of them would be made at a loss with high freight charges,” said a representative of an export body who participated in the meeting.

India’s merchandise exports in April-February FY22 were $374.05 billion, up 45.8% year-on-year while imports rose 59.21% to $550.12 billion.