The recently-announced Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) is expected to put additional burden of around Rs 2,200 crore on the state exchequer, given the various concessions and financial measures extended to the exporters.

Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman V Sridhar said: "Our analysis (of FTP's implications on indirect taxes) is Rs 2,200 crore for (this financial year)." The government has extended export subsidies and sops worth Rs 44,417 crore in 2008-09, excluding drawback payments sanctioned by the finance ministry.

The country's recession-hit export sector is facing tough time due to low demand in the traditional export markets, registering lacklustre business in 2008-09 at $168 billion. The government has announced a slew of measures for exports, such as the popular import duty reimbursement scheme DEPB and enhanced export credit guarantee cover (ECGC), for enabling the export industry to bear financial losses.

Mr. Sridhar has called for extending automation and the electronic data interchange (EDI) facility to more land customs stations, besides introducing computerization of all 93 excise commission points by the end of the current financial year.

Mr. Sridhar said: "Already pilot projects are on in 6-7 excise comissionerates. After we complete the automation on the excise and service tax front, we will take up the next challenge of linking them to customs. Once this is done, the process of providing rebates will be simplified."