New foreign trade policy to focus on MSMEs, Ecomm Zones, AI - Exportify Pulse Edition - March 17, 2023

New foreign trade policy to focus on MSMEs, Ecomm Zones, AI

India's upcoming foreign trade policy will seek to handhold MSMEs to build their financial capabilities, set up special zones for ecommerce exports and develop new mechanisms to support services related to artificial intelligence and Internet of Things.

The commerce and industry ministry is currently reviewing the existing Foreign Trade Policy. As part of this, it is deliberating on improving India's trade resilience so as to be prepared for unforeseen events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and integrating Nari Shakti (womanpower) into international trade and value chains to encourage women into export-oriented businesses.

The current policy was announced on April 1, 2015 and was extended till March 31, 2023. As part of the new policy, slated to be released by the end of this month, the government may announce a vision and strategies document for laying the roadmap of goods and services exports from April 1.

Officials said around 10 chapters would be part of the document.

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New foreign trade policy may be released by end of this month: Commerce Secretary

The government is expected to release the new five-year foreign trade policy (FTP) by the end of this month, with a view to promoting the country's outbound shipments of goods and services, a top official said on Wednesday. The current foreign trade policy (2015-20) is in force till March 31, 2022.

Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that the ministry has looked at various aspects of that FTP as the policy is basically the collection of various incentive schemes.

They are also adding the aspect of vision into that as the ministry is targeting to take the goods and services exports to USD 2 trillion by 2030.

"So, within that framework, we have worked out our FTP and we are expecting that it would be released by the end of this month," he told reporters here.

FTP provides guidelines for enhancing exports to push economic growth and create jobs.

It was first extended on March 31, 2020, for one year due to the coronavirus outbreak and the lockdown.

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India's imports from Russia rise to USD 41.56 billion in April-Feb period

India's imports from Russia jumped about five times to USD 41.56 billion during the April-February period of this fiscal due to increasing inbound shipments of crude oil from that country, according to the commerce ministry data. In 2021-22, Russia was India's 18th largest import partner, accounting for USD 9.86 billion of imports.

From just 0.2 per cent of all oil imported by India, Russia supplied 28 per cent of the total oil imported in January.

Russia has become India's fourth largest import source in the first 11 months of the current fiscal.

From a market share of less than 1 per cent in India's import basket before the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia's share of India's oil imports rose to 1.27 million barrels per day in January, taking the share to 28 per cent, according to energy cargo tracker Vortexa.

India, the world's third-largest crude importer after China and the United States, has been buying Russian oil that was available at a discount after some in the West shunned it as a means of punishing Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine.

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Trade deficit narrows to $17.43 billion in February 2023; exports, imports contract

India's trade deficit came in at $17.43 billion in February 2023, which is narrower as compared to $18.75 billion in the year-ago period, as per the official data released on March 15.

The numbers are also marginally lower as compared to the preceding month, as the trade deficit stood at $17.76 billion in January 2023.

The total imports in February amounted to $51.31 billion, which was around 8 percent lower as compared to $55.90 billion in the year-ago period. However, it was higher month-on-month, as the imports stood at $50.66 billion in January.

Merchandise exports contracted by 8.8 percent in February to $33.88 billion, as against $37.15 billion in the year-ago period. A marginal increase was recorded as compared to the preceding month, when it stood at $32.91 billion.

The service and merchandise exports, combined, rose by 7.8 percent in February, the commerce ministry noted.

The country's overall merchandise exports between April 2022 and February 2023 rose by 7.5 percent to $405.94 billion. Imports, during the same period, jumped 18.82 percent to $653.47 billion.

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Editor's Note

Time for Indian products to be the best in quality in the world : Piyush Goyal

MUMBAI :?The Union Minister for Textiles, Commerce and Industry, and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Shri Piyush Goyal?attended the?Export Awards function organized by The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC)?in Mumbai on Thursday.

Addressing the industry, the Commerce and Industry and Textiles Minister said that “we have to study each Free Trade Agreement and understand requirements of other countries better. “Export Promotion Councils should open offices in other countries, such as in locations like Dubai. We have to think out-of-the-box.”

The Minister told the industry that we need to give special attention to quality.?

“The time has come for our quality to be the best in the world. This is the demand of consumers in India and across the world as well. The time for coming out with two different types of quality – domestic quality and export quality – is over. 2,000 products will come under Quality Control soon. We need to stop using low-quality products. We need to increase our scale, focus on quality.”

The Minister asked the industry to guide the government on the products on which Quality Control Orders need to be issued. The Minister asked the industry to guide the government on the products on which Quality Control Orders need to be issued.

The Minister congratulated the award-winners, stating that they are in fact serving the nation, and that the award is only a small recognition of their hard work.

The Commerce and Industry Minister said that the trust and importance the world gives to India shows that we are a bright spot in the world economy. “The future growth of the world economy is impossible without India. The opportunity we have today is a rare one. The stars are conspiring for us to succeed, it is for us to grab that opportunity. I have full faith in SRTEPC that you will not fail in this mission.”

The Minister observed that it is perhaps for the first time that the Prime Minister himself met with Export Promotion Councils and discussed the way forward including export targets. “Following last year’s record exports, this year, based on figures available till now, we are confident of crossing 750 billion dollars of exports.” The Minister said that it is a matter of pride for us that despite global headwinds, we would be reaching this target.

The Minister said that unlike games like cricket, the state of business and industry is now such that the paradigm is one of win-win. “The Trade Agreement between India and Australia is a unity agreement, the two economies are very complementary. While Australia imports most manufactured goods, we get many of our raw materials like critical minerals from Australia. There is an investment opportunity for processing lithium and other rare earths and minerals, since the market for them is growing.”?

The Minister observed that during Spanish flu, while there were more deaths due to hunger rather than due to being infected with the flu itself, despite the world’s worst health crisis of COVID-19, India assured that no one had to suffer from hunger, thanks to the government scheme for distributing free food grains under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.

“People are today moving fast from poverty to middle class; our farmers’ incomes are improving, productivity is rising, they are getting good prices too. Rainfall too is good for many years.”

The Commerce and Industry Minister recalled how the Jan Dhan – Aadhaar – Mobile JAM Trinity enabled the country to perform Direct Benefit Transfer during the pandemic. “Now, under One Nation One Ration Card, you can obtain your ration from any ration shop in the country. The entire system has been digitized, there is no need to worry about pilferage or theft.”

The Minister presented the?Exemplary Award to Balkrishnan Goenka, Chairperson, Welspun Goup?

Chairperson, SRTEPC, Dhiraj Raichand Shah said that despite the global position of business, the members of SRTEPC have performed well. Speaking about the need to increase exports, the Chairperson said that the industry has to work harder, focus more on R&D and that the industry has to raise its exports by minimum 20% next year. He pointed out that the government is responsive to the industry and solves problems. “If we go together in the interest of the industry, then we will all benefit. The way the government has been working in the last eight years, the time has now come for us to learn from the government rather than from the corporate sector. The government is ready to do what is needed to promote exports, through schemes such as PLI scheme.”

Immediate Past Chairperson, SRTEPC Ronak Rughani said that it is the first time in the history of SRTEPC that the Commerce and Industry Minister is giving away awards to winners of SRTEPC Export Awards. He thanked the government for extending support to the Council and to the industry over the years.?Industry players from various segments of the textiles industry were present at the event.

Source: moneycontrol