The government on Wednesday said that the import of key communication hardware like radio equipment will require a licence from the Ministry of Communication and IT without any approval of the Commerce Ministry."Radio Communication equipment including VHF, UHF and Microwave Communication equipments (used for wireless operations like mobile telephony) not permitted to be imported except against a licence to be issued by the Wireless Planning Coordination (WPC) wing of the Ministry of Communication and IT," a DGFT notification said.

The notification was issued following confusion that arose among importers after March 2, 2009 when the DGFT put import of these equipment under the "restricted" category. "This led to an impression as if the importers were required to get a licence both from the DGFT as also from the Ministry of Communications," an official said. This equipment is imported by the mobile telecom infrastructure companies from various countries including China and Europe. Although some of the companies like Nokia-Siemens, Ericsson and Motorola have set up manufacturing facilities in India, still a large part of demand for this equipment is met through imports.

Source : The Economic Times

The new foreign trade policy, which is being prepared by the commerce ministry, will be aligned with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) only after implementation of this indirect tax mechanism. The new policy is likely to be announced by the next government at the Centre by mid-2009, while the GST is likely to be implemented from April 1, 2010. The current foreign trade policy of 2004-09 was unveiled by the United Progressive Alliance government on September 1, 2004 and was to expire on March 31, 2009. However, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) under the commerce ministry had extended its tenure till a new policy was ready.

The foreign trade policy has several export promotion measures that reimburse indirect levies charged on exports. These levies will now be subsumed under the proposed GST and will have only two slabs — one for the Centre and the other for the states. Therefore, the new export policy will have to specify how the current benefits given to exporters are matched with the proposed GST rates.

“We expect the new policy to be released by mid-2009. Till the GST mechanism is in place, provisions of the policy will not be changed. This is to ensure there is no confusion. Once GST is rolled out, the foreign trade policy will be modified to take into account the new taxation mechanism,” said a government official requesting anonymity.

Officials are still not clear if the state-level GST levied on exporters will be reimbursed. At the moment, many state-level duties are not reimbursed to exporters. The DGFT has already started consultations with various export-related organisations and industry lobby groups on the new Foreign Trade Policy. Officials maintained that the new government would take a call whether the present structure of the foreign trade policy should be continued.

The new foreign trade policy, which is being prepared by the commerce ministry, will be aligned with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) only after implementation of this indirect tax mechanism. The new policy is likely to be announced by the next government at the Centre by mid-2009, while the GST is likely to be implemented from April 1, 2010. The current foreign trade policy of 2004-09 was unveiled by the United Progressive Alliance government on September 1, 2004 and was to expire on March 31, 2009. However, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) under the commerce ministry had extended its tenure till a new policy was ready.

The foreign trade policy has several export promotion measures that reimburse indirect levies charged on exports. These levies will now be subsumed under the proposed GST and will have only two slabs — one for the Centre and the other for the states. Therefore, the new export policy will have to specify how the current benefits given to exporters are matched with the proposed GST rates. “We expect the new policy to be released by mid-2009. Till the GST mechanism is in place, provisions of the policy will not be changed. This is to ensure there is no confusion. Once GST is rolled out, the foreign trade policy will be modified to take into account the new taxation mechanism,” said a government official requesting anonymity.

Officials are still not clear if the state-level GST levied on exporters will be reimbursed. At the moment, many state-level duties are not reimbursed to exporters. The DGFT has already started consultations with various export-related organisations and industry lobby groups on the new Foreign Trade Policy. Officials maintained that the new government would take a call whether the present structure of the foreign trade policy should be continued.