The commerce ministry has started review of the foreign trade policy to carry out mid-course corrections in the export schemes, if required. As part of the review, it would hold stakeholders’ consultations to understand the issues faced by exporters.
“Sectors, which feel they want something amended, deleted, tweaked or brought in, will have to engage with the ministry. We certainly want more discussions,” sources said.
The ministry is also looking at the rollout of the goods and services tax (GST).
“Right now, we have two schemes — advance authorisation and Export Promotion Capital Goods, where we allow duty-free imports, right from the beginning. Under the GST regime, everybody has to pay the duty first and then seek reimbursement. Once that gets decided by the GST Council, we can modify our schemes,” sources added.
In April 2015, the government unveiled its first five-year Foreign Trade Policy (FTP), aiming to double exports of goods and services to $900 billion by 2020. In the FTP (2015-20), the government replaced multiple schemes with Merchandise Exports from India Scheme and Services Exports from India Scheme. Since December 2014, exports fell for 18 months on the trot till May, due to weak global demand. Shipments witnessed growth only in June this year, thereafter again it entered the negative zone in July and August.
