The newly formed pharmaceutical exports promotional council, Pharmexcil, has asked the union commerce minsitry to conduct elections within the council, said the council's existing chairman D B Mody.

According to Mody, the current Pharmexcil executive council is selected on an ad-hoc basis, which needs to be replaced soon with an early election.

"We have asked the Union Government to conduct the council's first election as early as possible," said Mody.

Pharmexcil recently had organised a one-day seminar to make Indian exporters aware about the new policies and trends in the latest Export-Import Policy. Senior officials from the union commerce ministry, DGFT's office, Exim Bank and Exports Credit and Gurantee Corporation of India (ECGI) were the main speakers at the seminar.

Major schemes like the Market Development Assistance (MDA) and Market Access Initiative (MAI) were discussed at the event.

In MAI scheme, 50 per cent of the registration expenses is assured from the Union Government. The government will reimburse a maximum of Rs 5 lakh per product registration to the exporter. The reimbursement could be claimed for five registrations in a year.