Riding on a double-digit November growth in factory output, the fastest in two years, the government announced Rs 450 – 500 crore worth incentives to push exports of over 2,000 items and tap markets in Japan and China. The monetary burden will be borne by the commerce ministry’s budget.

‘‘We hope these (incentives) will give a further boost to exports…will also help in recovery of the sectors which continue to show decline in exports,” commerce minister Anand Sharma said.

The incentives would be effective retrospectively from January 1. After remaining in the negative for 13 months, exports turned positive in November and December following demand recovery in some of the major economies.

As part of the package, duty-free entitlements would be provided to more products such as auto components, electronics, plastics, machinery and chemicals. Such incentives can also be availed by exporters sending shipments to Japan and China which have been included in the list of countries for the Market-Linked Focus Product Scheme. The two countries account for $68.8 billion of India’s trade. Under the scheme, exporters get incentives equal to 2% of their shipment’s value.

‘‘Inclusion of China and Japan in the market-linked focus product scheme will help in addressing adverse trade balance with these countries which is becoming a cause of concern,” said A Sakthivel, head of FIEO.