The government will announce the annual Foreign Trade Policy on April 8, which will aim at giving a boost to exports of pharmaceutical, auto components and services.
The policy is usually announced on March 31 but was deferred by the Government as Commerce Minister Kamal Nath wanted to present it along with the trade figures for 2004-05, even as sources cited differences between Finance and Commerce Ministries as the cause for delay.
However, Nath had ruled out any differences with the finance ministry on certain provisions of the Foreign Trade Policy and emphasised that it will be announced before April 10.
While the commerce ministry wants to dole out sops such as tax exemptions to achieve the export target of $150 billion by 2008-09, the finance ministry was worried about their fiscal implications.
Targetting $100 billion in exports in 2005-06, the policy is expected to unveil a slew of measures for pharma and auto component sectors besides procedural simplifications and a new Duty Entitlement Passbook Scheme.
Dairy products like cheese and butter are also likely to be brought under the ambit of the much touted Vishesh Krishi Upaj Yojana besides some special provisions for the farm sector under the already existing scheme.
The policy would also unveil a comprehensive strategy for pushing up services exports further.
The merchandise and services exports together are likely to be around $130 billion this year.
