Excise Duty Cut to Help Reduce Logistics Cost: Exporters

Excise duty reductions on gasoline and diesel, as well as customs duty rationalisation on commodities like as plastic and steel raw materials, will help decrease logistical costs and boost manufacturing and value-added exports, exporters said on Sunday. On Saturday, the government announced an excise duty cut of Rs 8 per litre on petrol and Rs 6 per litre on diesel. It also reduced import duties on steel and plastic raw materials while raising export duties on iron ore and steel intermediates.

According to A Sakthivel, President of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), these policies will lower domestic costs of critical inputs, hence lowering inflation.

He said, "This will also add to the competitiveness of the manufacturing and export sector and will further push value-added exports from the country. These proactive measures will also ease the logistics pressure and bring down the freight bill of the country as in some cases the same raw material was being exported from the country and subsequently being imported by the downstream users."

Sharad Kumar Saraf, a renowned Mumbai-based exporter and Chairman of Technocraft Industries expressed similar sentiments, saying that lower excise duties on gasoline and diesel will lower logistics costs and help exports, particularly of freight-sensitive commodities.