Govt looks to restructure export promotion councils, aims to boost growth

The Union government is working towards a restructuring of export promotion councils that will focus on achieving high export growth set for the next five years.

The government has delegated PwC India the responsibility of preparing the primary report. Once the report is prepared, the department of commerce and the government’s think tank NITI Aayog will look into the recommendations of the consulting firm for implementation, people aware of the matter told Business Standard.

“The process is on. Once the government gets the primary report, a further plan of action will be worked upon,” one of the persons cited above said.

The discussion on restructuring of export promotion councils have been going on for over three years now, as export targets were not being met. Export growth had stagnated for nearly a decade, barring the financial year 2021-22, as the global economy started recovering from the disruption created by Covid-19 and external demand picked up.

Otherwise, from 2012-2020, merchandise exports from India hovered around $260-330 billion, with the highest ever value of exports being $330 billion in FY19. Thereafter, exports worth $420 billion were achieved only in the previous financial year.

“The idea is to look into what needs to be done to boost export growth, identify where some of these councils may be lagging and how it can be fixed. Lot needs to be done to strengthen these councils,” the official said.

Currently, there are 25 export promotion councils, with 14 under the department of commerce and the rest under the textiles ministry. The idea behind setting up an export promotion council was to boost overseas trade, promote government schemes for exporters, support exporters in increasing their exports, organise trade fairs, buyer-seller meets, among others. They also facilitate communication between the exporters and the government.

The department of commerce has set a lofty $1 trillion export target that it aims to meet by FY28.

Separately, the department is also working towards a revamp to make it future-ready and achieve robust and sustained high export growth. The revamped department will have a more coherent trade promotion strategy with clear targets and execution accountability, especially at a time when India is also negotiating a bunch of trade deals.

“The revamping of the commerce department is aimed at further building on its strategic direction and aspirations for the next decade. There is also a need for scaling up and re-engineering the operation model with enhanced 'new-age' capabilities and to move from inherent traditional roles to new roles,” the department had said earlier this year.

ALL FOR HIGH GROWTH

• PwC to assist govt in restructuring export promotion councils (EPCs)

• Department of Commerce and NITI Aayog to take final call

• EPCs boost overseas trade, promote government schemes for exporters, support exporters in increasing their exports, and facilitate communication between exporters and the government

• Currently, there are 25 EPCs in India

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