Sharma assures support to fisheries on par with agriculture

Union commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma seemed to be confident of the central government extending the stimulus package for labour-intensive sectors such as especially engineering goods, leather and garment, that have barely recovered. His remarks came a week ahead of the union budget.

Sharma was speaking to reporters in Chennai after inaugurating the 17th International Sea Food show.

Responding to a question as to whether he had convinced finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on retaining stimulus in the upcoming budget, Sharma said Mukherjee was ''well-informed and sensitive'' to the challenges of Indian trade.

He said that in some labour-intensive sectors, (government) support would be warranted for some time to come and that was exactly what he had taken up with the finance minister, and recommended for his consideration. He added, however, that the government may initiate the process of withdrawal of stimulus in a phased manner in sectors that have consolidated their growth.

Talking about the overall trade, Sharma said that though exports were down due to the steep decline in demand in major economies including the US and EU, the government had been successful in arresting the fall in exports with stimulus packages and policy interventions.

Sharma added that the government hoped that by the end of final quarter of the current financial year, it would be able to consolidate further and reduce the gap between India's exports and share of global trade in goods and services.