Commerce Minister Kamal Nath introduced amendments to some existing legislation in parliament Tuesday to abolish cess on various farm products that collectively amount to Rs.1 billion ($22.7 million) per annum.

"In a further bid to boost our exports, we propose to discontinue with the cess on exports. This will make our exports much more competitive," Kamal Nath told a press conference after tabling the amendments.

"We cannot subsidise exports like the developed countries, but at least let us not tax them," he said.

Among the various cess collected by export promotion councils, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority accounts for Rs.500 million, followed by Rs.120 million on coffee, 70 million on spices and Rs.3 million on tobacco.