New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS): To support and promote exports, the Centre on Saturday proposed to launch new schemes in FY 2020-21.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech, said that the Centre plans to launch the Nirvik and 'Reversion of duties and taxes on exported products' scheme.

"To achieve higher export credit disbursement, a new scheme, Nirvik is being launched, which provides for higher insurance coverage, reduction in premium for small exporters and simplified procedure for claim settlements," she said.

She also said that that it "is proposed to digitally refund to exporters, duties and taxes levied at the Central, State and local levels, such as electricity duties and VAT on fuel used for transportation, which are not getting exempted or refunded under any other existing mechanism".

"This Scheme for Reversion of duties and taxes on exported products will be launched this year."

The development assumes significance as these schemes are expected to facilitate higher exports.

India's exports contracted for a fifth month in a row by 1.8 per cent in December 2019 to $27.36 billion and imports declined 8.9 per cent to $357.39 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $118.10 billion.