In a statement, Rajgopalan said small exporters would now be able to upgrade their machinery at lower cost because of reduced threshold limit of Rs 1 crore under zero duty scheme for chemicals, plastics and textile sector.

He said shifting 843 items in the free list indicated the Government's commitment to go ahead with the reform process. He stated that the move to grant extension in export obligation period and grant revalidation to advance licenses, where export obligation is fulfilled, would bring relief to exporters.

Rajgopalan, however, said that the need for a stable long term export policy for agricultural products had been ignored.

According to him, although the Government was aware of the procedural and bureaucratic hurdles, which rendered exports incompetitive, the Minister had not abolished the current system of monitoring the export obligation by customs as well as DGFT.