Question : Boosting India’s Foreign Trade

(a) whether the Government has set a timeline for achieving USD 1 trillion in manufacturing revenue and take its share in GDP to 20 per cent and if so, the present position thereof;

(b) whether the government is taking up the issue with the concerned authorities on the challenges that the exports are facing in the GST regime and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government is looking at opening offices in different geographies to penetrate in the global market and if so, the details thereof; and

(d) whether the Government is looking at working on developing global supply chains for agriculture sector and if so, the details thereof?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
(SHRI C.R. CHAUDHARY)

(a): National Manufacturing Policy of 2011 has, inter-alia, an objective of enhancing the share of manufacturing in GDP to 25 per cent by 2022.

(b): The GST related challenges faced by the exporters are continuously reviewed by the Government and taken up with the GST Council. The Government announced a major relief package for exporters in October 2017 by extending the Advance Authorization (AA) / Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) / 100% EOU schemes to sourcing inputs etc. from abroad as well as domestic suppliers. Holders of AA / EPCG and EOUs would not have to pay Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST), Cess etc. on imports. Also, domestic supplies to holders of AA / EPCG and EOUs would be treated as deemed exports.

(c): In the Mid Term Review of the Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20), the focus in on increasing India’s exports in under and untapped markets in high potential regions like Africa and also on greater engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean Region.

(d): The Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA), an autonomous Organisation under the Department of Commerce mandated to promote exports, has initiated work on development of agri-clusters for boosting the export of agri based produce by identifying certain pockets of export potential fruits and vegetables in different states in the country. The concept of Cluster development entails focused channelization of efforts in a converged manner for the overall development of supply and value chain of the identified produce. To ensure credibility of Indian agriculture products in the international markets, APEDA has also developed traceability, information technology enabled monitoring systems co-opting all stakeholders in the supply chain into a single system to ensure food safety, monitoring of pesticide residues like aflatoxin, product standardization and export of quality products from India to eliminate export constraints like non-tariff barriers etc.

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