Commerce Minister Kamal Nath (centre) with FICCI officials Saroj Kumar Poddar and Amit Mitra (left) in New Delhi on Monday. Picture by Ramakant Kushwaha

New Delhi, March 28: The country will miss the March 31 deadline for the new foreign trade policy, which is likely to be delayed by about 10 days.

?The policy will be in place within the first 10 days of April. There are certain figures which have to come and we need to check on its accuracy,? commerce minister Kamal Nath said today on the sidelines of a two-day India Infrastructure Summit organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).

?The busy schedule in Parliament and the patents bill have delayed the announcement of the foreign trade policy,? he added.

According to sources, there are serious differences between the commerce ministry and the finance ministry over the tax concession to be extended to exporters.

The commerce ministry is of the view that the country should go in for liberal sops to boost exports. The finance ministry, on the other hand, does not favour such a liberal policy as it leads to a decline in revenue collections at a time when it is becoming increasingly difficult to rein in fiscal deficit.

Moreover, such concessions are often misused by unscrupulous exporters who over-invoice exports or even go to the extent of faking orders to rake in a fast buck under various incentive schemes.

Nath said the much-awaited special economic zone (SEZ) bill will be introduced in the next session of Parliament.

He said the only deterrent in meeting the $3-billion export target is India?s infrastructure. ?Though it is undoubtedly an area of problem, it?s also an opportunity,? he said.

Refusing to draw a comparison between India and China on infrastructure support, Nath said, ?in a democratic polity we need to ensure that policies not only facilitate financial viability of projects but are also politically viable.?

The minister was of the view that there is a need for ?India-specific SEZ. The route we take should be specific to our country?.

The government believes that the country?s ?institutional strength? will help attract investments in this crucial sector for the next 20-25 years.

Nath said infrastructure projects have long gestation periods and in many cases are not directly commercially viable.

?We must perfect the art of tapping resources from within the country and from abroad to finance such projects,? he said. ?The government has introduced the facility of viability gap funding to support public-private partnership initiatives in infrastructure sectors,? the minister added

Speaking on the occasion, Hari Sankaran, joint managing director of Infrastructure Lease and Finance Services (IL&FS), said regulatory issues are of concern to the industry.

?The process by which we get private investment in this sector is not only complex but also non-transparent,? he said.

?We need to have pools of money invested in infrastructure projects,? he added.