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The State Trading Corporation of India (STC) has unveiled a host of new initiatives and diversification plans to achieve higher turnover and profitability in its Golden Jubilee Year. Import of FMCG goods, non-ferrous metals, taking mining capacity on lease and entering into joint ventures with reputed Indian companies for mining are some of the measures already pursued by the Corporation this year. Apart from this, the Corporation will commence the import of IT products shortly.
In one of the landmark achievements in the year 2004-05, the Corporation recorded an all time high turnover of Rs.9700 crore as against Rs.6750 crore set in the target for the year. In the export front, the Corporation has made highest ever export of chemicals, drugs & pharmaceuticals items amounting to Rs.227 crore compared to negligible figures to the previous years. The Corporation has also made headway in the export of iron ore by successfully effecting shipments worth Rs.8.5 crore. In another pioneering initiative, the Corporation earned Rs.11 crore last year by the export of teak wood. The Corporation plays a facilitative role to exporters by providing technical, marketing and financial assistance. Arranging import of machinery and raw material for export production, setting up design centres, providing testing laboratories, taking products of small manufacturers to overseas markets by organising their consortia, participation in exhibitions and trade fairs both within India and abroad give the much needed fillip to the small and medium entrepreneurs.
During 2004-05, STC was nominated by the Government of Uzbekistan as a nodal agency for imports from and exports to India. The Corporation has also been planning to set up operations in the areas of pharmaceuticals and textiles in Uzbekistan jointly with local entrepreneurs. In another significant development, the Corporation has entered into overseas steel operation in Philippines under which the STC would supply raw materials from third countries to a steel plant set up by an Indian company in Philippines.
Over the years, the Corporation has catered to the socio-economic objectives of the country by ensuing remunerative prices to growers of certain agricultural products like rubber, tobacco, shellac, lemon grass oil and sticklac through price support operations undertaken from time to time. These operations always had a salutary impact on the prices. The infrastructure and the expertise developed by the Corporation has equipped it to handle wide variety of trade transactions. Of particular significance is the “offshore trade” undertaken by STC. In one such transaction, the Corporation realised money under Government of India’s debt repayment plan by procuring rice from Vietnam and exporting it to Singapore.
Established in the year 1956, primarily with a view to undertake trade with East European countries and to supplement the efforts private trade and industry in developing the exports from the country, the STC has built a network of Rs.306 crore and contributed a sum of Rs.775 crore till date to the public exchequer by way of payment of dividends and taxes.
Serving as an arm of the government not only to regulate the foreign trade but also for intervention in domestic market, the Corporation commends a reputed image in the global market, according to various surveys of India’s Fortune 500 companies.
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SB/SS/MRS
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