Indian Inc. welcomes new foreign trade policy

India Inc. on Wednesday welcomed the slew of measures announced by the government in its new five-year foreign trade policy.

The new policy, which is in line with the government's other initiatives like 'Make in India' and 'Digital India' was announced by Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here.

The new policy focuses on simplifying old schemes and procedures under one streamlined policy structure.

India Inc. noted that the positive measures like facilitation and enhancing the ease of doing business as mentioned under policy statement as the major focus areas.

Hailing it as a path-breaking policy, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said the new policy recognises the global challenges faced by the export sector and also identifies the sectors which could emerge as winners in the next five years.

"The new policy has put the focus on states as all factors of production are within the ambit of states," FIEO President S.C. Ralhan said.

According to Ralhan, the new policy develops an export strategy which inculcates setting up of institutional support for export commissioners and formation of the council for trade promotion involving both the centre and the state governments.

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) expressed its satisfaction over the new trade policy stating that many of its suggestions have been adopted in it.

"Concerted and partnership-based efforts of government and business would certainly be able to raise India's share in world exports from the present level of 2 percent to 3.5 percent by 2019-20," FICCI secretary general A. Didar Singh said

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said the Indian industry was thrilled with announcements pertaining to simplification in procedures.

"Overall, the focus of the new policy is to support both the manufacturing and services sectors, with a special emphasis on improving the 'ease of doing business'," said industry chamber CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee.

Akshay Mathur, head of research and geoeconomics fellow at foreign policy think tank Gateway House pointed that the search for new markets such as Latin America, Africa and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) is obvious and timely.

"As India's traditional export destinations such as the US and Europe are still recovering from the financial crisis," Mathur added.