Could India elaborate a bit further on how international rules on export credits are used as benchmarks in designing and implementing these policies and instruments?
Reply: Interest rates on export credit in India are governed by the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (Central Bank of the country and the banking regulator) which stipulates that interest rates including export credit rates shall not be lower than the "base rate" of each individual bank. "Base rate" includes the cost of capital for each bank and the minimum return expected, approved by their respective boards. Thus export credit in India is at commercial and market oriented rates.
According to publicly available information (see statement of the Minister of State for Finance of 17 December 2008, available at http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=45755), India's Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Animal Husbandry Dairying and Fisheries "has been implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) on Development of Marine Fisheries, Infrastructure and Post Harvest Operations. Under the component on Fishermen Development Rebate on High Speed Diesel (HSD) oil, a rebate/subsidy of Rs. 1.50 per litre on HSD consumed by the mechanised fishing vessels below 20 meter Over All Length (OAL) is provided. Rebate is shared on 80:20 basis between Centre and State Governments. In case of the States where Sales Tax is exempted by them and in UTs, the entire subsidy amount is borne by the Government of India"
Could India provide information (actual figures or, alternatively, estimated amounts) relating to the fuel subsidy provided under the Fishermen Development Rebate on High Speed Diesel (HSD) oil, for the years 2009 and 2010? Furthermore the EU would be interested to know whether this Centrally Sponsored Scheme is complemented, or coexists, with other fuel subsidy schemes provided by the States. In the affirmative, could India provide information (States granting the subsidy, modalities, amounts) on these latter schemes?
Reply: Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Development of Marine Fisheries, infrastructure and post harvest operations, a rebate on high speed diesel (HSD) oil used by small mechanized fishing vessels below 20m length is provided to coastal states/union territories. The central rebate is restricted to 50% of the sales tax exempted by the States with a ceiling of Rs 3.00 per litre. The central subsidy under this scheme is restricted to (i) the fishing vessels of less than 20m size which were registered before the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002 to 2007), (ii) the fishing vessels owned by fishermen belonging to below poverty line (BPL) category and (iii) 500 litres per fishing vessel for every active fishing month. Because of stringent conditions attached to the scheme, no amounts have been disbursed during the last two years.