The second day of World Trade Expo 2018, October 30, 2018 organised by MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai in association with All India Association of Industries was witness to a Special Address by Mr. Jayakumar Jitendrasinh Rawal, Minister of Tourism, Employment Guarantee Scheme, Government of Maharashtra. Mr. Rawal said, “We are facilitating the Ministry of India’s Hunar Se Rojgar Tak programme in Maharashtra. In association with hospitality institutes like IHM-Mumbai, MTDC has carried out various hospitality courses comprising six-eight weeks duration in food production, food and beverages, bakery and patisserie, housekeeping utility and certified guide training programme across Maharashtra.”

Further, the UN WTO global report 2010 highlighted the aspect of Women in Tourism. The tourism sector has huge potential to generate significant employment opportunities for women, said the Minister.

Dr. Harshdeep Kamble, Development Commissioner (Industries), Directorate of Industries, Government of Maharashtra said, “The Government of Maharashtra is working on a new industrial policy with special focus on promoting exports, supporting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and enhancing ease of doing business.”

The state government is also promoting industry 4.0 technologies such as artificial intelligence to enhance its export competitiveness.

Dr. Kamble invited views and suggestions from the industry so that they can be incorporated in the proposed industrial policy of the state.

Mr. Sambhaji Chavan, Senior Deputy Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Mumbai said, “DGFT has taken various initiatives to reduce cost of trading. Some of them are introduction of automatic approval of export incentives, relaxation of norms for duty-free imports and introduction of digital signature.”

Mr. Ramesh Chander, Commissioner – Customs, Mumbai said, “The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) automating filing and verification of documents, reducing manual intervention. CBIC is integrating into its system the international best practices on ease of paying taxes and ease of trading across borders, which include RFID-enabled electronic cargo tracking system, onsite port clearance audit and introduction of ICEGATE etc.”

Mr. Subhash Agrawal, Commissioner of Customs, Nhava Sheva, Jawaharlal Nehru Customs House, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India said, “JNPT will increase its container handling capacity by 4.8 million twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) through setting up of one more terminal. I invite all exporters and importers to make use of the Direct Port Delivery (DPD) scheme and Authorized Export Operator (AEO) schemes of Government of India to reduce time and cost of cargo clearance. So far, 40% of importers have availed of the DPD scheme and we target to enhance this to 80-90% in the days ahead.”

Mr. Agrawal also suggested use of e-sanchita portal for uploading their documents.

Dr. Rajat Srivastava, Director & Regional Head, EEPC INDIA, Western Region said, “We need to encourage local engineering enterprises to adopt cutting-edge technologies to enhance their global competitiveness and exports.”

Mr. Vijay Kalantri, Vice Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai suggested, “Government officials must relax inspection and audit norms for long-standing businessmen and traders. Further, it must relax procedures for businessmen who are honest. Government of Maharashtra must come out with notification for all the new policy announcements on the same day for industry to benefit. He also proposed the state government to revive Maharashtra State Financial Corporation (MSFC).

In Photo:

Minister Rawal delivering the Special Address on second day of World Trade Expo 2018.