We live in a complex and volatile economy. Complex as it is interrelated with various agreements and worldwide schemes and volatile as these are critically dependent upon various eco-political relationships between various countries. Discontinuation of Duty Entitlement Passbook (DEPB) scheme has compelled exporters to resort to alternate scheme which is the Duty Drawback Scheme. Department of Revenue has shifted items which were listed in the DEPB Rate Schedule to Drawback Rate Schedule, along with few general conditions. This requires exporters to understand the Drawback Scheme thoroughly.

On GSP front, EU has already passed regulation for discontinuing the GSP benefits w.e.f. 01.01.2014 for Indian Textile and Chemical Sectors. This process will be applicable for other sectors too under the New EU GSP Regime. India-EU Broad based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) and India-European Free Trade Association (EFTA) are still at a negotiation stage. If agreements under BTIA and EFTA are not concluded on or before 01.01.2014, India will lose all preferential treatment under GSP, and this will hamper competitiveness of Indian exports.

The economy has come under considerable strain; inflation poses a serious threat, the GDP shows a negative growth, and trade and commerce suffer badly as risks in international trade go up manifold. In this scenario it is important to understand the impact of FTAs and study Duty Drawback Scheme as that would be instrumental in managing the on-going instability across industries and across geographical boundaries.

This programme is being organized in the light of this scenario. The objective is to strengthen the foundation of those engaged in international trade, so that they can gain competitiveness and expand the international trade.

We had with us as a very competent faculty, Mr. Sudhakar Kasture who is the Director of Helpline Impex Pvt. Ltd. and EXIM Institute (A Division of Helpline Impex Pvt. Ltd.) & Partner of Generation Next Business Consulting. He is a visiting faculty to various institutes like S. P. Jain Institute of Management Studies & Research, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Institute of Company Secretaries of India, Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association of India, Training Colleges of Bank of Baroda, Central Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, YES Bank, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd., MSME development Institute, Mumbai [Formerly known as SISI], etc.

He had conducted in-house Training Programmes in various leading organizations like IOCL, BPCL, HPCL, MRPL, Tata International, Aditya Birla Group, and others and conducted Export Promotional Programmes on behalf of Chemexcil, CAPEXIL, EEPC, FIEO, SRTEPC etc. He also conducted training programmes for Telesoft Technologies Ltd. in UK and Programmes on SEZs in India on behalf of various organizations in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and other cities.