Govt working on new schemes for next foreign trade policy to boost exports

foreign tradeThe Commerce Ministry is working on new schemes for the next foreign trade policy (FTP), to be released in 2019-20, with a view to boost exports, a senior government official said.

The ministry has asked all the commodity boards and the concerned ministries to identify those "support" structures, which are compliant to global trade rules.

"These support measures could be some schemes or some incentives or it could be infrastructure related. These measures should benefit maximum number of industries," the official said.

The ministry has recently released the mid-term review of the current foreign trade policy.

"We have started the work now, so that by the time we have to come with the new FTP, we would be ready with the final blueprint as we have to consult finally with the finance ministry," the official added.

The five-year foreign trade policy provides guidelines for enhancing exports with the overall objective of pushing economic growth and generating employment.

Under the policy, the government announces steps for exporters. Currently, the government has two schemes

merchandise and services export from India scheme. The Finance Ministry has to allocate funds for these schemes.

Last month, the government announced incentives worth Rs 84.5 billion to boost exports of goods and services, mainly from labour-intensive sectors.

During April-November this fiscal, the country's total merchandise exports grew by 12 per cent to $196.5 billion.