Unleash labour reforms to push exports: Survey

Economic Survey asked Govt to immediately unleash labour sector reforms and rectify infrastructure bottlenecks for doubling exports.

The pre-budget Economic Survey on Friday asked the Government to immediately unleash labour sector reforms and rectify infrastructure bottlenecks for doubling Indian exports to $150 billion in the next three years.

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Cautioning against slippages in export target to avert trade and current account deficits in the face of import surge, the survey, tabled in Parliament on Friday, said Government should remove outdated labour laws, aggressively push FDI and hasten special fiscal and regulatory regime for Special Economic zones.

"Constraints like infrastructure bottlenecks, outdated labour laws, SSI reservations and high transaction costs need to to be attended to urgently to reach the ambitious target of $150 billion exports by 2008," the survey for 2004-05 said.

Against the Government target of $75 billion this year, the country recorded exports of $34.5 billion during the first six months, a significant improvement over $27.9 billion in the comparable period of 2003-04.

"FDI in export industries will not only increase the rate of investment in the economy but also infuse new technologies and management practices in these industries", it said.

"Given the global reach and marketing ability of FDI, export promotion policy further need to utilise the natural complementarity with export activity," it said.