Federation of Industrial & Commercial Organization (FICO) under the leadership of S. Gurmeet Singh Kular President and Sh. Rajeev Jain General Secretary FICO met Sh. Sibin C. Secretary cum Director of Industries and Commerce, Government of Punjab; and submitted a Memorandum highlighting the major issues faced by the Exporters.
1. Freight Equalization:
The State of Punjab is Land Locked and the freight charges for an exporter in Punjab are way more when compared to one in a Costal State. There should be a freight equalization for the North Indian exporters who have been far away from the seaports so that they should also be able to maintain competitiveness with those who are located near the seaports.
2. Exporter’s Payment Defaulters:
The industry is working day and night to complete the exports orders, but in case a person sitting in another country defaults on the payment after receiving the goods, the Indian exporter is left with no option, other than to go to that country and file a legal suit as per laws of that country. There must be a provision or policy made to blacklist such companies in India, so No Company abroad could Cheat hardworking Indian Manufactures.
3. Technology Upgradation Support:
Mostly the Industry is working on traditional methods by which they are not being able to compete with the production capacity of ultra-modern Chinese Manufactures. After COVID-19, Europe and USA are eyeing Indian MSMEs, and the number of queries has risen. It is requested that the Government must support the Indian MSMEs for Technology Upgradation so that Indian MSMEs could scale up and grab the opportunities.
4. Availability of VISAs:
The government must work with its allied countries to provide visas to business delegates on priority, there must be a system made to facilitate the Indian Entrepreneurs to get visas in 15 Days, to go, explore and grab the business opportunities.
5. Inland Haulage Charges
Inland Haulage Charges are the transportation costs incurred when moving freight from a seaport of loading to an inland container freight station, and vice versa. Importing or exporting a container to or from Punjab takes a big amount of Inland haulage. Which makes an Indian exporter un-compete-able with a Chinese Exporter established near the seaport.
6. Slow movement of Containers
Frequently, it has been observed that the movement of Containers to or from the Sea Port is very slow, which simply stuck the funds invested in importing to exporting the product, as this useless delay causes irrational harassment to the entrepreneurs. Sometimes it has been the case that the exported container reaches the seaport after the departure of the ship, and the container has to be kept for another 15-20 days for the next available dispatch. In another scenario, if 5 containers are imported, 2 have reached the destination and the remaining 3 are still waiting to be dispatched from the seaport. This is a major issue that needs to be addressed.
