EXIM POLICY

Exim Policy, also known as the Foreign Trade Policy is announced every 5 years by Ministry of
Commerce and Industry, Government of India.
It is updated every year on the 31st of March and all the amendments and improvements in the
scheme are effective from the 1st of April.
The Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-20 was unveiled by Ms Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of
State for Commerce & Industry, Government of India on April 1, 2015.
This policy consists of general provisions regarding exports and imports,
promotional measures,
duty exemption schemes,
export promotion schemes,
special economic zone programs.
Objectives of Exim Policy :
To enhance the technological strength and efficiency of Industry.
To enhance Agriculture industry and services, thereby improving their competitive strength
while generating new employment opportunities,
and to encourage the attainment of internationally accepted standards of quality.
To facilitate sustained growth in exports from India and import in India.
To stimulate sustained economic growth by providing access to essential raw materials,
intermediates, components,
consumables and capital goods scheme required for augmenting production and providing
services.
Salient Features of India's Foreign Trade Policy
FTP 2015-20 introduces two new schemes, namely ‘Merchandise Exports from India Scheme
(MEIS)’ for export of specified goods to specified markets
and ‘Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS)’ for increasing exports of notified services.
These schemes (MEIS and SEIS) replace multiple schemes earlier in place, each with different
conditions for eligibility and usage.
E-Commerce of handicrafts, handlooms, books etc., eligible for benefits of MEIS.
Measures have been taken to give a boost to exports of defence and hi-tech items.
Trade facilitation and enhancing the ease of doing business are the other major focus areas in
this new FTP.
One of the major objective of new FTP is to move towards paperless working in 24x7
environment.
The policy for the first time makes a combined export target for goods and services of $900
billion by 2020.