Lok Sabha Question No. 1861 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-30
Subject: Export Policy
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: ANIL SHIROLE, George Baker, PARBHUBHAI NAGARBHAI VASAVA

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1861 TO BE ANSWERED ON 30 th  JULY,2018

## EXPORT POLICY

## 1861.   SHRI ANIL SHIROLE:

SHRI GEORGE BAKER:

SHRI PARBHUBHAI NAGARBHAI VASAVA

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

- (a) the salient features of the export policy of the Government;
- (b) the number of countries in the World associated with this policy;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to start export with the small countries;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and
- (e) the time by which the exports are likely to be started?

## ANSWER

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THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)

(a) The salient features of the export policy, incorporated in the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-20, launched by Government of India on April 1, 2015 and its Mid-term Review launched on December 5, 2017 and in other policy measures taken from time to time are as follows:

- (i) FTP 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 line with the 'Make in India', 'Digital  India',  'Skills  India',  'Startup India'  and  'Ease  of doing business' initiatives.
- (ii) The main policy objective is to enable India to respond to the challenges of the external environment keeping in view the rapidly evolving international trading architecture and make trade a major contributor to the country's economic growth and development.
- (iii) The  policy  provides  the  framework  for  promotion  of  exports  through  schemes  of incentives on exports and duty remission/exemption on inputs for export production.
- (iv) The  policy  introduces  two  new  schemes,  namely  'Merchandise  Exports  from  India Scheme  (MEIS)'  for  improving  export  of  specified  goods  by  merging  five  earlier schemes  for  better  coherence  and  'Services  Exports  from  India  Scheme  (SEIS)'  for increasing exports of notified services.Duty credit scrips issued under MEIS and SEIS and the  goods imported against  these  scrips  are  fully  transferable.  The  Scheme  now covers exports 8020 tariff lines at 8 digits level to all countries.
- (v) The policy includes measures to nudge procurement of capital goods from indigenous manufacturers under the EPCG scheme by reducing specific export obligation from 90 percent to 75 percent of the normal export obligation.
- (vi) The policy provides issue of Advance Authorisation to allow duty free import of input, which is physically incorporated in export product within a specified timelines.
- (vii) Interest  Equalization  Scheme on pre and post  shipment  rupee export credit  has been introduced from 1.4.2015 to help exporters in accessing credit at reuced rates
- (viii) 'Niryat Bandhu  Scheme'  has  been  galvanised  and  repositioned  to  achieve  the objectives of 'Skill India' and trade promotion/awareness.
- (ix) Trade facilitation and enhancing the ease of doing business measures have been taken with  special  focus  on  moving  towards  paperless  working.  The  Government  has launched a Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade (SWIFT) clearances project with effect from 1 st April, 2016. The scheme enables the importers/exporters to file a common  electronic 'Integrated Declaration' on the Indian Customs Electronic Commerce/Electronic Data Interchange (EC/EDI) Gateway i.e. ICEGATE portal. India also  ratfied  the  WTO  Agreement  on  Trade  Facilitation  (TFA)  in  April  2016  for enhancing trade facilitation.
- (x) A  new  scheme  called  'Trade  Infrastructure  for  Export  Scheme  (TIES)'  has  been launched from 1 st April 2017 to address the export infrastructure gaps in the country.
- (xi) The  Mid-term  Review  of  Foreign  Trade  Policy  2015-20  launched  on  5 th December 2017 provides more incentives for export promotion. For example, export incentives under MEIS have been increased by 2% for labour intensive and MSME sectors w.e.f 1.11.2017 in addition to already announced  increase in MEIS incentives from 2% to 4%  for  Ready-made  Garments  and  Made  Ups  in  the  labour  intensive  Textiles Sector.Similarly,  the  SEIS  (Service  Export  from  India  Scheme)  incentive  rate  have been increased by 2% w.e.f 1.11.2017 for all notified services such as Business, Legal, Accounting, Architectural, Engineering, Educational, Hospital, Hotels and Restaurants.

(b). India's Foreign Trade Policy supports exports to all countries (except those notified under the  FTP  for  implementation  of  UN  sanctions/embargo).  In  order  to  create  an  architecture  for India's global trade and expanding its markets, bilateral consultations and multilateral consultations/negotiations are made by the Government with potential partner countries from time to time under WTO regime and other Regional Trade Organisations/Agreements.

(c)to(e). In  the  year  2017-18,  India  exported  to  238  countries/  Special  Administrative Regions including small countries. The new FTP 2015-20 focuses on the goal of exploring new markets,  especially in South Asia, Africa, CIS and Latin America.

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