Commerce ministry preparing district export plan to boost shipments

The commerce ministry has initiated a process to prepare a district export plan specific to every state and Union territory, with a view to boost the country's outbound shipments, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The plan will include the support required by the local industry in boosting their manufacturing and exports with impetus on supporting the industry from the production stage to the exporting stage, the ministry said.

"Informative material on various incentives provided by the government and states will be disseminated to the industry and other potential exporters," it said.

The plan will also include strategy to enhance logistics and infrastructure at the district level and better utilisation of the Market Access Initiative (MAI) scheme of the ministry for inviting foreign buyers.

Budgetary support will be provided to make outreach at the district level and prepare this plan, the ministry said.

It also said state and UTs will be assisted in preparing an annual Export Ranking Index of different districts to rank each district on its export competitiveness.

In order to prepare data, efforts have been made by the ministry to look into the feasibility of preparing district-level export data from the existing set-up.

The products identified, which has export potential, from the 750 districts in the country include leather, spices, garments, wool, food products, ceramics, cement, silk, carpet, glass items, metal crafts, sports goods, pharmaceuticals, engineering items, auto parts, poultry, vegetables, cut flowers, and scientific instruments.

For the plan, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has been engaging with states/ UTs to initiate its preparation and implementation.

The plan will be specific to each district.

The DGFT is also developing a portal to enable the states to upload all information related to the products with export potential of every district.

The preliminary exercise for the preparation of the plan will include an assessment of a district to identify the current export profile and its further potential in the district.

The ministry has mandated the regional authorities of DGFT to work with states and district-level officers to promote each district as an export hub.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget Speech 2020-21 stated that each district should develop as an export hub.