(a) whether the Government have reviewed the functioning of the Export Promotion Councils;
(b) if so, the names of the Councils, whose functioning has been reviewed;
(c) the shortcomings noticed by the Government in these EPCs during the course of review;
(d) whether these Councils are serving the interests of some export houses only; and
(e) if so, the reaction of the Government in this regard ?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI RAJIV PRATAP RUDY)
(a) to (e) : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 191 FOR ANSWER ON 26TH JULY,2002 REGARDING FUNCTIONING OF EXPORT PROMOTION COUNCILS
(a) to ( e ) : Performance of Export Promotion Councils(EPCs) is constantly reviewed through the following mechanism :
- Ministry of Commerce has been regularly reviewing the annual action plan and export performance of all EPCs. Latest such review was undertaken by the Commerce Secretary with all EPCs on 10th June, 2002. Ministry of Textiles also organises such reviews of the Textile EPCs and latest review of these EPCs was carried on 21st March, 2002 under the Chairmanship of Hon`ble Minister of Textiles.
- MDA Committee reviews the activities and performance of EPCs on an annual basis while deciding MDA allocation for the next financial year.
- Committee of Administration/Managing Committee of EPCs undertake such reviews on a regular basis wherein government is represented by an Officer from the Commodity Division concerned.
- The performance of EPCs in the previous year is also reviewed by the concerned Ministers and a review note is placed on the Table of both Houses of the Parliament while laying their Annual Reports and financial accounts during the winter session.
EPCs are serving the interests of all members irrespective of their status. EPCs undertake a number of export promotional activities every year to help their members which are mainly small & medium enterprises and also take up the problems of their members with the concerned organisations for their resolution.