Lok Sabha Question No. 257 (STARRED), answered on 2017-03-20
Subject: Foreign Trade Policy
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: PARVATAGOUDA CHANDANAGOUDA GADDIGOUDAR, NALIN KUMAR KATEEL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE)

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 257 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20 th  MARCH, 2017

## FOREIGN TRADE POLICY

## *257.   SHRI P.C. GADDIGOUDAR:

## SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE & INDUSTRY ( वािणÏय एवं उɮयोग मंत्री ) be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has unveiled its first five-year Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) in 2015;
- (b) if so, the details and the objectives thereof along with the salient features of FTP;
- (c) whether the Government has conducted a review of FTP to understand the response of the various sectors;
- (d) if so, the details thereof along with the outcome of the said review; and
- (e) whether  the  Government  has  taken  steps  to  tweak  the  said  FTP  in  order  to encourage exports and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

okf.kT; ,oa m|ksx jkT; ea=h ¼Jherh fueZyk lhrkje.k½ ¼Lora= izHkkj½

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

(INDEPENDENT CHARGE) (SMT. NIRMALA SITHARAMAN)

- a) to  e):  A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

*****

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 257   FOR ANSWER ON 20 th  MARCH, 2017 REGARDING ' FOREIGN TRADE POLICY '

- (a) Yes,  Madam.  The  Government  has  announced  the  Foreign  Trade  Policy 2015-20 on 01.04.2015 in place of previous Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14.
- (b) The new five year Foreign Trade Policy,  2015-20  provides  a  framework  for increasing exports of goods and services as well as generation of employment and  increasing  value  addition  in  the  country,  in  keeping  with  the  "Make  in India" vision of our Hon'ble Prime Minister.

The  focus  of  the  government  is  to  support  both  the  manufacturing  and services  sectors,  with  a  special  emphasis  on  improving  the  'ease  of  doing business'. FTP 2015-20 introduces two new schemes, namely "Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS)" for export of specified goods to specified markets  and  "Services  Exports  from  India  Scheme  (SEIS)"  for  increasing exports  of  notified  services,  in  place  of  a  plethora  of  schemes  earlier,  with different conditions for eligibility and usage. There would be no conditionality attached to any scrips issued under these schemes. Duty credit scrips issued under MEIS and SEIS and the goods imported against these scrips are fully transferable.

Measures  have  been  adopted  to  nudge  procurement  of  capital  goods  from indigenous  manufacturers  under  the  EPCG  scheme  by  reducing  specific export obligation to 75% of the normal export obligation. This will promote the domestic  capital  goods  manufacturing  industry.  Such  flexibilities  will  help exporters  to  develop  their  productive  capacities  for  both  local  and  global consumption.

Measures have been taken to give a boost to exports of defence and hi-tech items. At the same  time e-Commerce  exports  of handloom  products, books/periodicals,  leather  footwear,  toys  and  customized  fashion  garments through courier or foreign post office would also be able to get benefit of MEIS (for values up to 25,000 INR). These measures would not only capitalize on our strength in these areas and increase exports but also provide employment.

In order to give a boost to exports from SEZs, it has been decided to extend benefits  of  both  the  reward  schemes  (MEIS  and  SETS)  to  units  located  in SEZs. This will benefit the manufacturing sector in terms of both technology transfer and gainful employment.

Trade facilitation and enhancing the ease of doing business are major focus areas in this FTP. It has been our endeavor and commitment to move towards paperless processing. We have reduced the number of mandatory documents required for exports and imports to three, which is comparable with international benchmarks.

DGFT will continue to mentor new and potential exporters through the 'Niryat Bandhu  Scheme'.  The  scheme  has  been  galvanized  and  repositioned  to achieve the objectives of 'Skill India'.

- (c)  &  (d):  Mid-term  Review of Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 is underway. Sectoral review  meetings  with  Apex  Trade  Bodies,  Export  Promotion  Councils  and Commodity Boards for  Mid-Term  policy  review  is  going  on.  Comments  and views  are  also  being  sought  from  Ministries/Departments,  Government  of India and State Governments.
- (e) :     The Government has been amending the provisions of Foreign Trade Policy from time to time based on inputs/ requests received from the trade bodies/ exporters  etc.  through  Notifications  and  Public  Notices.  Details  of  such amendments / revisions are available in public domain i.e. www.dgft.gov.in.

*****