Foreign Trade Policy

DGFT surprises exporters with annual returns under the Rodtep scheme

The DGFT wants the exporters to submit the data for the year 2023-24 by the March 31, 2025. Not furnishing the ARR will lead to denial of Rodtep benefits

Goyal launches two portals for timely delivery of services to exporters

One of the portals launched today is named Jan Sunwai, which serves as an online platform to provide all information and services, including grievance redressal, to the stakeholders

Rupee trades in narrow range against US dollar in early hours today

The rupee traded in a narrow range on Wednesday and appreciated 2 paise to 83.96 against the American currency, on easing crude oil prices and tracking its Asian peers. Forex traders said foreign institutional inflows, alongside significant corrections in asset classes like the dollar index and crude oil prices, supported the rupee, while the Reserve Bank's active intervention kept the rupee in a tight range. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit moved in a narrow range. It opened at 83.97 against the American currency and was at 83.96 in initial trade, registering a rise of 2 paise over its previous close. On Tuesday, the rupee depreciated 3 paise to close at 83.98 against the American currency. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.21 per cent to 101.42 points. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was trading higher by 0.48 per cent to USD 69.52 per barrel in futures trade. Forex

Commerce ministry targets $100 billion electronics, textile exports by FY30

Pharmaceutical exports are targeted to double to $55 billion by FY30, from $27.84 billion in FY24, focusing on drug formulations and biologicals

Govt extends interest equalization scheme by two months for MSME exporters

Ashwani Kumar, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), expressed disappointment for exporters who are exporting products under 410 tariff lines

Worldwide sales

Dedicated hubs will streamline e-commerce exports

Govt restricts import of gold jewellery and parts amid unusual surge

The jump in imports has been the sharpest in the case of gold jewellery parts that saw 30 times jump to $1.55 billion in FY24 from $51.51 million a year ago

Govt needs to be transparent, must avoid selective protectionism

One of the major pillars or principles of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was the abolition of quantitative restrictions

Trade strategy on table to achieve exports target of $2 trillion by 2030

Last month, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), as part of its recommendation for the services sector, urged the government to introduce measures to empower small businesses

Govt deserves praise for e-SHC initiative

The commerce ministry says that with the launch of this new system, the number of status holders will go up from 12,518 to about 20,000

Biden looks to spotlight his foreign policy as 2024 reelection bid heats up

This probably wasn't how President Joe Biden envisioned his big foreign policy week ending. Biden spent much of the time trying to make the case to world leaders at the UN General Assembly as well as to Democratic donors and voters that his decades of foreign policy experience and demonstrated moral clarity set him apart from Donald Trump, the early front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. But just as Biden is looking to spotlight his foreign policy chops with his 2024 reelection bid heating up, he is facing a growing list of national security headaches, several of which emerged in recent days. There is a diplomatic spat between US allies Canada and India over the killing of a Sikh activist on Canadian soil, growing concern about the future of US funding for Ukraine, and the indictment of the influential chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. Each will test Biden and his administration. Menendez and his wife were indicted Frida

Computer import curbs not part of FTP Principles of Restrictions

The duty rates on computer software and hardware were cut to zero after India became a signatory to the Information Technology Agreements (ITA-1 and ITA-2) at the World Trade Organisation

India's foreign trade crosses $800 bn mark in first 6 months of 2023: GTRI

A healthy growth in India's services segments has helped the country's total exports and imports of goods and services to cross the USD 800 billion mark during the first half of 2023, despite a slowdown in global demand, think tank GTRI said in a report on Monday. According to the analysis of the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), exports of goods and services rose by 1.5 per cent to USD 385.4 billion during January-June this year, as against USD 379.5 billion in January-June 2022. Imports, however, dipped by 5.9 per cent to USD 415.5 billion during the six months of this year, as against USD 441.7 billion in January-June 2022. "India's foreign trade (exports and imports of merchandise and services) reached USD 800.9 billion during January-June 2023, exhibiting a decline of 2.5 per cent over the same period last year (January-June 2022), the report said. Standalone, goods exports dipped by 8.1 per cent to USD 218.7 billion, while imports contracted by 8.3 per cent to USD 325.

Govt eases norms to avail benefits under advance authorisation scheme

The government on Monday simplified norms for exporters to avail benefits of an advance authorisation scheme under which free imports of input materials are allowed. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) implements this scheme under the Foreign Trade Policy. The eligibility of inputs is determined by sector-specific norms committees based on input-output norms. To make the norms fixation process more efficient, the DGFT said that it has created a user-friendly and searchable database of ad-hoc norms fixed in the previous years. These norms can be used by any exporter without approaching the norms committee, it added. The database is hosted on the DGFT website (https://dgft.gov.in) and allows users to search using export or import item descriptions, technical characteristics, or Indian tariff classification codes. "This trade facilitation measure simplifies the advance authorisation and norms fixation process, resulting in shorter turnaround times for exporters, improved

At 5.74% CAGR, exports growth dismal in last nine years

he Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-20 targeted doubling of exports of goods and services from $466 billion in 2013-14

Challenging SC judgment on validity of pre-import condition may not succeed

Exporters complain that some authorities are talking of applicability of the pre-import condition for advance authorisations issued during that period

Get real with targets

The credibility of foreign trade policies will improve if they are not obsessed with setting export targets

DGFT lays out procedure for exporters to apply for amnesty scheme

The commerce ministry on Monday laid out a procedure for applying for amnesty scheme for one-time settlement of default in export obligation by certain exporters. The directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT), under the ministry, directed the regional authorities to process any such applications within three working days. "Application for AA (advance authorisation)/EPCG (export promotion for capital goods) discharge/closure shall be filled online by logging onto the DGFT website and navigating to services," the DGFT said in a policy circular. The government announced the new foreign trade policy (FTP) on March 31. It included an amnesty scheme for exporters for one-time settlement of default in export obligation by the holders of advance and EPCG (export promotion for capital goods) authorisations. Under the scheme, all pending cases of the default in meeting export obligation (EO) of certain authorisations can be regularised by the authorisation holder on payment of all customs

DGFT should make good notable omissions

Hopefully, communications will follow on these issues

Key FTP changes that didn't find mention in the highlights

Generally speaking, the new FTP continues with the same old provisions under the major export promotion schemes