An official from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) has said that the new Foreign Trade Policy 2023 will be released tentatively by the end of March 2023. The current Policy, framed for the period 2015-2020 was first extended due to the COVID pandemic, and then due to geopolitical and economic uncertainties until March 2023. The new FTP will focus on export promotion, for both merchandise and services, towards achieving the export target of USD 2 trillion by 2030.
“The current foreign trade after the extension that we gave six months back will expire on 31st of March and during the six-month period we have been developing a new foreign trade policy. We have looked at different aspects of the foreign trade policy,”
Sunil Barthwal, Commerce Secretary
Barthwal said that the FTP as a policy is basically the collection of various incentive schemes. “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 said.
The new trade policy is expected to have new chapters on e-commerce, districts as export hubs, and SCOMET (dual use items straddling civilian, industrial and military use), thereby placing a special emphasis on them.
India’s merchandise exports declined nearly 9% in February, the third contraction in the current fiscal, led by a persistent demand slowdown across major markets including the US and the European Union. High global inflation, rising interest rates, and key economies moving towards recession have all contributed in making the future uncertain. The World Trade organisation is also expecting global trade growth to reduce from 2022’s 3.5% to 1%.
The Foreign Trade Policy is a set of guidelines and instructions established by the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in matters related to the import and export of goods in India.
