Government Taking Several Steps To Boost Indian Exports: Centre

Amid the Coronavirus pandemic which affected the business activities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led central government is taking several steps to boost Indian exports, said Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Anupriya Patel, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

A new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-20 was launched on April 01 2015. The policy, inter alia, rationalised the earlier export promotion schemes and introduced two new schemes, namely Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) for improving export of goods and ‘Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS)’ for increasing exports of services, according to the statement. 

She further added that the mid-term review (2017) of the Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20) was carried out and corrective measures were undertaken. Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20) extended by one year i.e. up to 31-3-2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Centre has started implementing a NiryatBandhu Scheme with an objective to reach out to the new and potential exporters including exporters from Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and mentor them through orientation programmes, counselling sessions, individual facilitation, etc., on various aspects of foreign trade for enabling them to get into international trade and boost exports from India.

Assistance is provided through several schemes to promote exports, namely, Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES) and Market Access Initiatives (MAI) Scheme.

A comprehensive “Agriculture Export Policy” was launched on 6th December, 2018 to provide an impetus to agricultural exports by the government.

A Central Sector Scheme, ‘Transport and Marketing Assistance for Specified Agriculture Products’ was launched for providing assistance for the international component of freight to mitigate the freight disadvantage for the export of agriculture products, according to the statement.