The new Foreign Trade Policy aims to boost India’s exports to $900 billion

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, today unveiled the much delayed Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) of the NaMo government. The government aims to achieve exports worth Rs $900 billion by 2020.

“The new trade policy will boost exports, create jobs while supporting 'Make In India' and 'Digital India’. We will focus on defence, pharma, environment-friendly products and value-added exports,” said commerce minister Sitharaman. According to traders, if the government wants to raise the exports of the country, it should focus on addressing the credit availability challenge in the new FTP.

“There is a huge imbalance. Our exports are nowhere close to our imports. For exports to increase, we need to give a credit boost to the medium and small enterprises sector,” said Praveen Khandelwal, general secretary of Confederation of All India Traders Association.

He added that domestic export sectors such as textile, traditional ornaments sectors should be encouraged as they have a huge demand in other countries. “ Our goods such as pickle, traditional ornaments, handicraft have a huge demand in foreign markets. Government should focus on these categories as they have a huge potential,” Khandelwal explained.

Besides, he also suggested the government to allow small enterprises to get the same benefits as large corporate in the special economic zone (SEZ).

The government has now announced a 25% reduction in export obligation under the Export Promotion Capital Goods scheme in order to promote domestic manufacturing.

The FTP announced on Wednesday is a five year policy and is expected to boost the country’s manufacturing sector tremendously.