Mid-term review of foreign trade policy to be out on Tuesday

The government will unveil the much-awaited mid-term review of the foreign trade policy on Tuesday, which among other things would address exporters' woes with an aim to arrest the declining trend of shipments.
Exporters have been voicing concerns about challenges on account of the implementation of GST, even suggesting that they be kept out of the ambit of the new indirect tax regime and the drawback refund be expedited as it was blocking their working capital.
The mid-term review of the foreign trade policy (FTP) was earlier supposed to be released before July 1, in line with the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST). However, it was put off as the government wanted to factor in the feedback from exporters based on their experience of the implementation of GST.

"The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (Headquarters), New Delhi, will remain functional on 2-3 December 2017 (Saturday and Sunday) for preparatory work relating to release of Mid-Term Review of FTP," the DGFT said in an office order.
It directed all the officers and officials of DGFT Headquarters to attend office on Saturday and Sunday.
Exports entered the negative terrain after over a year, contracting 1.12 per cent in October, primarily due to liquidity problem being faced by exporters following rollout of GST.
The five-year FTP was announced on April 1, 2015, and set an ambitious target of India's goods and services exports touching USD 900 billion by 2020. It also aimed at increasing India's share of world exports to 3.5 per cent, from 2 per cent.