Steps are being taken to boost foreign trade: DGFT

The Dollar Business Bureau

The Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on Wednesday interacted with the industry heads and assured them of the various initiatives that the Govt has taken to benefit the country’s merchandise exports through one single scheme.

The DGFT, Anup Wadhawan, on Wednesday interacted with exporters and discussed various issues related to trading across borders and foreign trade policy. 

The interactive session was organized by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) in Mumbai. 

Responding to the queries raised by exporters on initiatives taken by DGFT and the Ministry of Commerce to improve ease of doing business in the country and promote foreign trade, DGFT Dr. Anup Wadhawan briefly summarised the various initiatives, taken up by the department, relating to policy simplification, reducing cost of capital through interest subvention, reduction in paperwork, apart from discussing other new initiatives.

Policy initiatives have helped increase the share of manufacturing in India’s exports to over 69% in FY2016, from 64% in FY2015. 

Key sectors such as cotton yarn/fabrics/made-ups & handloom products, drugs and pharmaceuticals, electronic goods, organic and inorganic chemicals and RMG of all Textiles and Plastic have registered a considerable increase in 2015-16 over 2014-15. 

The new Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20), unveiled on April 1, 2015, emphasised on improving ease of doing business for export and import business. 

The FTP consolidated five different schemes under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) for rewarding merchandise exports into a single scheme. 

As part of the FTP, the government had taken major initiatives to encourage service exporters under the Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS). 

To improve ease of doing business for export-import business, the government has lessened the number of mandatory documents to three from its earlier seven for exports and 10 for imports.