Union Commerce Ministry extends Foreign Trade Policy by six months till March 2023

Tags: Economy/Finance

The Union ministry of commerce has decided to extend the validity of the current Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) for another six months till March 2023. The government had planned to release the FTP on September 29 and it was to come into force from 1 October 2022.

The validity of the current FTP was for 2015-2020 and has been extended by three times till September 2022. This was done by the government in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, to provide policy stability and help the exporters.

According to the commerce ministry this has been done after demands from various industry associations and state-backed export promotion councils due to the uncertain external environment.

Reasons for extending FTP 

According to the government the export bodies in India wanted the government to implement the policy from the start of a financial year and not in the mid-year.

The external situation is presently very uncertain due to the situation in Ukraine, currency volatility and fear of recession in the major markets of the United States of America and Europe.  Government hopes that the external situation will become clearer in the next six months.

The latest extension will lend predictability to the policy regime for exporters and enable them to continue to get incentives under a clutch of extant programmes.

Foreign Trade Policy 

The Foreign Trade Policy is formulated by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The policy provides a set of guidelines regarding the Import and export of goods from India.

The Foreign Trade Policy is normally of five year duration. 

The FTP is administered by DGFT (Directorate General of Foreign Trade)

Trade Data of India 

The total export of goods from India in 2021-22 was $417.81 billion

The total export of goods from India in April to July 2022 was $ 253.84 billion.

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry: Piyush Goel