A INR 10,000 Cr. ‘Districts as Exports Hubs’ scheme has been proposed by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry as a part of the much anticipated Foreign Trade Policy. The scheme aims to develop 700 districts across the nation as exports hubs and an announcement regarding the DHE Scheme is likely to be made in the upcoming Budget 2022-23.
The contribution of the Centre will be almost INR 10,000 Cr. and the rest would be done by the states. So, the scheme would have a larger outlay. On the other hand, the States’ respective contributions to go up to INR 5,000 to 6,000 Cr., according to sources.
A recently published report marked India’s merchandise exports at USD 37.81 billion in Dec 2021 which was 38.91% Y-O-Y growth. Also, exports between April and December 2021 amounted to USD 301.38 billion – another peak point. With this initiative of DEH Scheme, the Government plans to achieve double digit export growth from 500 districts of the country. While the work to assemble data on exporters in the selected districts is in progress, an interface to connect them with potential buyers in markets outside India is also being developed with the help of Indian Missions abroad.
District Export Promotion Committees are also being set up in each district to prepare and execute various export specific actions plans in collaboration with relevant stakeholders at district, State and Center level. Products and services with export potential have been identified in all districts and action plans have been prepared for such identified products & services for overseas markets, which include specific actions required to support local exporters/manufacturers, identifying and addressing challenges for exports, and improving supply chains.
