Explore Business Standard
DGFT
DGFT, the foreign trade arm of the Commerce Ministry, on Monday said it plans to launch a pilot of Bharat Aayat Niryat Lab Setu, a digital single-window platform to link testing and inspection agencies nationwide for faster and paperless certification of export and import consignments. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said that the initiative seeks to streamline the process of testing and certification by digitally connecting exporters, importers, and accredited testing and inspection agencies through a unified online interface. "The DGFT proposes to initiate the pilot of Bharat Aayat Niryat Lab Setu - a digital platform integrating testing and inspection agencies across the country under a single window," it said in a trade notice. The pilot phase will commence from November 4, and exporters and importers will be able to submit applications for product and commodity testing through the platform from November 11 this year. The platform will reduce delays, improve ...
India on Monday said the requirement for a certificate of inspection from government authorities for rice exports is limited to certain European Union (EU) member states. However, the exports to other European countries are exempted from this requirement for six months, the DGFT (Directorate General of Foreign Trade) notification said. "The requirement of a certificate of inspection from Export Inspection Council (EIC)/Export Inspection Agency for rice (basmati and non-basmati) exports is limited to EU member states, the UK, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland," the DGFT notification said. EIC is the official export certification body of India which ensures quality and safety of products exported from India. The UK, Netherlands, Italy, and Germany are some of the major importers of rice from India, which is a leading exporter of the grain.
The government on Monday imposed export ban on raw human hair if the prices are below USD 65 per kg, according to a notification. In January 2022, the government imposed restrictions on these exports. "The export policy of raw human hair is amended from restricted to prohibited. However, export shall be free if FOB (Free on Board) value is USD 65 or above per kilogram," the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) said in a notification. The decision was taken on the back of reports of smuggling of raw human hair to countries like Myanmar and China, which is hurting local industries and exports. In India, West Bengal is the major hub for the industry besides Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. Major competitors of India are China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar. Raw human hair are mainly collected from households and temples of these states to primarily cater to the beauty market globally. Two types of hair are collected in India - remy and non-remy hair. Remy hair, the b
The Budget announcement to set up BharatTradeNet as a unified platform for trade documentation and financing solutions is an ambitious proposal and there is a plan to create a not-for-profit company to implement this project, a senior government official said on Tuesday. Proposed on the lines of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the platform will help in moving towards complete digitisation of the entire range of trade documentation and then allow seamless operability of different agencies which are involved in this, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Saranagi told reporters here. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said in the Budget speech that this will be set up as a unified platform for trade documentation and financing solutions and it will complement the Unified Logistics Interface Platform. "So this is a highly ambitious proposal but we are ambitioning to do something which is a UIDAI kind of programme in future...Idea is to create a separate agency .
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the commerce ministry, has launched an upgraded system for issuance of electronically generated certificate of origin to help exporters, an official statement said on Monday. Certificate of origin is a key document required for exports to those countries with which India has trade agreements. An exporter has to submit the certificate at the landing port of the importing country. The document is important to claim duty concessions under free trade agreements. This certificate is essential to prove where the goods come from. The commerce ministry said this upgraded platform offers features such as multi-user access, which enables exporters to authorise multiple users under a single Importer Exporter Code (IEC). Additionally, the system now supports Aadhaar-based e-signing alongside digital signature tokens. "The DGFT has launched the enhanced Certificate of Origin (eCoO) 2.0 system, a significant upgrade designed to simplify the
The country's regulatory system is ensuring a robust and transparent process for exports of high-tech goods, a senior official said on Thursday. Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi said that IT-enabled processes, seamless licensing, and industry outreach will drive these exports while maintaining strong regulatory oversight. Speaking at the National Conference on Strategic Trade Controls (NCSTC) 2025 at Bengaluru, Sarangi "emphasized the importance of India's export control system in ensuring a robust, transparent process for high-tech exports". As part of the country's strategic trade control system and in consonance with the provisions of international conventions, India regulates the exports of dual-use items, nuclear-related products, and military goods, including software and technology under the list. This list is notified by the DGFT under the Foreign Trade Policy. According to an official statement, the conference focuses on underscoring the ...
The Commerce Ministry's arm DGFT on Monday updated the export policy for all products, specifying detailed conditions for each item to enhance the ease of doing business in the country. Earlier specific policy conditions were only outlined for goods which were subject to certain restrictions or fell under some norms. "Schedule-II (Export Policy)' in sync with Finance Act 2024 dated August 16, 2024, has been notified," the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) said in a notification. The updated schedule contains the current export policy of all ITC (HS) codes, along with specific policy conditions (if any) to be fulfilled, it added. An official said this would help in knowing policy conditions for all the products. In international trade parlance, every product is categorised under the Indian Trade Classification (Harmonised System) - ITC (HS). It helps in the systematic classification of goods across the globe.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has made amendments to the Foreign Trade Policy to make consultations with stakeholders for their views on draft policies mandatory, an official statement said on Friday. The changes also provide the mechanism to inform reasons for not accepting views, suggestions, comments or feedback concerning the formulation or amendment of the Foreign Trade Policy, the commerce ministry said. "The DGFT on Thursday notified amendment in the Foreign Trade Policy, 2023, to include Para...to bring legal backing in the FTP to make it necessary to do consultation with stakeholders to seek views, suggestions, comments or feedback from relevant stakeholders, including importers/exporters/industry experts concerning the formulation or amendment of the FTP," it said. The key objective of the amendments is to encourage the participation of all stakeholders in the decision-making process before introducing or changing policy and procedures affecting the ...
The government has imposed import restrictions on low ash metallurgical coke for six months from January 1 to June 30, 2025, according to a notification. The government has also imposed quantitative restrictions (QR) on the imports from certain countries, including Australia, China, Colombia, Indonesia, Japan, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, and the UK. Based on the recommendations of the directorate general of trade remedies (DGTR) in April this year, "....import of low ash metallurgical coke have been placed under restriction as per the country-wise QR for a period of six months, effective from January 1, 2025 up to June 30, 2025," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification. It said the imports would be allowed only against an import authorisation issued by the DGFT for the specified country during the six months. However, the coke with high ash content (above 18 per cent) is outside the scope of this restriction. The country wise ...
The commerce ministry's arm DGFT has clarified that registration-cum-membership certificate is not mandatory for exporters to seek benefits under schemes like duty drawback and remission of state levies. According to the Foreign Trade Policy, a Registration-cum-Membership Certificate (RCMC) is required for exporters in order to avail benefits under the policy. Holding the certificate can also help exporters in availing benefits with respect to customs and excise. The certificate is issued by export promotion councils and commodity boards. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has said that schemes such as duty drawback, rebate of state and central taxes and levies (RoSCTL) and remission of duties and taxes on export products (RoDTEP) fall under the category of remission-based schemes. These schemes are aimed at remitting duties or taxes on exported goods. For these schemes, "the requirement of an RCMC does not apply. Exporters can claim benefits under these schemes witho
The government on Tuesday notified policy conditions for export of certain halal meat and its products and this will come into effect from October 16 this year. Notifying the conditions, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said specified meat and meat products will be allowed to be exported as halal certified to 15 countries, only if such goods are produced or processed and/or packaged in a facility certified under the 'India Conformity Assessment Scheme (I-CAS) - Halal' of the Quality Council of India (QCI). The 15 countries are Bahrain, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Malaysia, Jordan, Oman, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Turkey, and the UAE. After the shipments, the exporter will have to provide the valid certificate to the buyer in the importing country. "Policy conditions for export of specified halal meat and meat products are notified," the DGFT said. In April 2023, with the aim of streamlining the halal certification process for exp