Excise duty cut on petrol and diesel and rationalisation of customs duties on goods such as raw material for plastic and steel will help reduce logistics costs, promote the competitiveness of manufacturing and exports of value-added goods, exporters said on Sunday. 

The government on Saturday announced a reduction in excise duty on petrol by a record Rs 8 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 6 per litre. It also cut import duty on the raw materials of steel and plastic and increased export duty on iron ore and steel intermediates. 

Speaking to Hello Vizag, A Sakthivel,  President of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said these measures will bring down the domestic prices of key inputs thereby softening inflation. "This will also add to the competitiveness of the manufacturing and export sector and will further push value-added exports from the country. These proactive measures will also ease the logistics pressure and bring down the freight bill of the country as in some cases the same raw material was being exported from the country and subsequently being imported by the downstream users," he said. 

Sharing similar views, a leading exporter from Visakhapatnam said the reduction in excise duty on petrol and diesel will reduce logistics costs and will support exports, particularly of commodities which are freight sensitive. "Export duty on iron ore and semi-finished steel products like HR coils and bars already has the desired effect. Steel prices have started softening and this will have a significant positive impact on our engineering exports. 

The government must be complimented for such actions," industry bodies said and added that the iron and steel industry should pass on the benefits to the engineering sector, particularly the MSME units, which are reeling under the impact of high iron and steel prices.