“The new Foreign Trade Policy shall provide policy continuity and a responsive policy framework for promoting India’s Exports of Goods and Services,” DGFT stated in its notification earlier.
Saying how it will be a continuous process, Sarangi said there is no end to the new FTP and it would be updated as per the needs of the trade.
“This FTP will be dynamic and responsive to ever changing trade scenario. As and when we get feedback from you, we will keep changing this document. The window for updating this is available on a real time basis,” he said.
Sarangi added that fee reduction is being ensured for MSMEs. “Almost 50-60% of the beneficiaries are MSMEs. From paying about Rs 1 lakh to their licenses earlier, now they would pay only Rs 5000,” he said.
The country is likely to end this financial year with total exports of $760 billion compared to $676 billion in 2021-22. The Director General said that the ambition of reaching $2 trillion exports by 2030 will be continuously followed up.
“We are now revising the export performance threshold. A five star export house would now be eligible to be recognised as five star with a threshold of 800 million of exports instead of $2 trillion earlier,” he said.The government also declared four new towns as towns of export excellence- Faridabad, Varanasi, Moradabad and Mirzapur. This will be in addition to 39 towns which are already approved.
Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said that flexibility in foreign trade policy will help grow India’s export potential.
“Government will engage in massive trade outreach across globe in terms of sectors and nations in the coming months,”he said.
He mentioned that some of the changes they have done is that e-certificate of origin has been made completely online. “To supplement our FTA negotiation efforts, we are issuing both preferential and non-preferential certificate of origins through DGFT e-platform and more than 18 lakh certificated issued using this platform,” he said.
The Director General pointed out that there is a greater thrust on emerging areas which have a huge export potential. As far as e-commerce is concerned, all FTP benefits will be extended to e-commerce exports, he said. The value limit was earlier only Rs 5 lakh for all courier shipments. It is being increased to Rs 10 lakh under this FTP.
“E-commerce exports, districts as export hubs have huge potential. There is a renewed thrust in FTP on all these areas.,” he said.
As far as e-commerce is concerned, all FTP benefits will be extended to e-commerce exports. The value limit was earlier only Rs 5 lakh for all courier shipments. It is being increased to Rs 10 lakh under this FTP.
Sarangi mentioned that the government has widened the basket which is getting covered under RoDTEP and also addressed the anomalies that exporters are facing.
The policy has also introduced amnesty scheme for one-time settlement of default in export obligation.
On March 31, 2020, the government had extended the FTP 2015-20 for one year till March 31, 2021, amid the coronavirus outbreak and the consequent lockdowns. It saw many such extensions due to the deadly virus aftermath.
The last extension was given in September 2022 till March 31, 2023.
