Small and medium enterprises would continue to play a vital role in enhancing India's exports, L Mansingh, the director general of foreign trade, said in New Delhi.

Speaking at an 'Open House' on Exim Policy hosted by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry Tuesday night, he also said the Chinese model of boosting exports characterised by huge assembly lines was not suitable for India.

Stating that the Chinese model is not relevant in India, Mansingh said, "It is the small scale sector and the small and medium industries, which provide the cutting edge to Indian exports and initiatives have been taken towards this end in the new Exim Policy."  

He said the government would soon have Electronic Data Interchange connectivity with the customs department and asked the exporters to prepare for electronic filing of applications to reduce transaction costs.

"Let us also try to step up incremental export growth by identifying engines of growth where potential exists,” he told the exporters.

As an impetus to the small and medium industrial units, he said, the Export Promotion Capital Goods scheme would now allow import of capital goods for pre-production and post-production facilities also.

To facilitate the upgradation of existing plants and machinery, import of spares would also be allowed under the scheme, he said.