The new Exim policy has fallen virtually flat, according to industry circles, so far as cotton yarn exports from the country are concerned. There is almost nothing in the new policy from which cotton  farm exporters can derive comfort. They have been almost persistently pleading that arrangements  should be made for the refund of local taxes like octroi, electricity duty, sales tax etc. which foreign  exporters do not have to pay.

A committee was constituted out a year back to study this problem of transaction costs which place Indian exporters on an uneven playing field vis-a-vis foreign suppliers. However the outcome of  that exercise remains unknown.

Some exporters of cotton yarn argue that they would not mind even complete withdrawal at one stroke of the income tax exemption to export profits, provided such local taxes and levies are made refundable. Such a facility may make Indian exports more competitive in the overseas markets, it is argued.