Foreign Trade Policy

The Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) was introduced by the Government to grow the Indian
export of goods and services, generating employment and increasing value addition in
the country. The Government, through the implementation of the policy, seeks to
develop the manufacturing and service sectors. This article is a snapshot of the various
aspects of the policy.

Primary Focus Areas

The Government, through the policy, primarily focuses on adopting a twin strategy of
promoting traditional and sunrise sectors of exports including services. Further, it intends
to simplify the process of doing business.

Duration of the Policy

The Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) was flagged off in the financial year of 2015-16, and will
remain effective until the 31st of March, 2020. During this period, all the exports and
imports of the country will be governed by the policy. The Government strives to make
India a significant partner in global trade by 2020.

Foreign Trade Policies Aimed at Improving

Ease of Doing Business
Here’s an overview of some of the major initiatives under the Foreign Trade Policy:

Niryat Bandhu Scheme

DGFT has come up with the Niryat Bandhu Scheme for mentoring budding exporters on
the intricacies of foreign trade by means of counseling, training and outreach
programmes. Given the rise of small and medium scale enterprises and their role in
employing people, MSME clusters have been identified for focused interventions to
increase exports.

To achieve the objective of the scheme, outreach activities will be organized in a

structured manner with the assistance of Export Promotion Councils and other willing
knowledge partners in academia and research community. Besides, for the optimal
utilization of resources, all the stakeholders will be attempted to be associated, including
Customs, ECGC, Banks and concerned Ministries.