Full Swing Process on New Foreign Trade Policy – Disclosing by April
Work for formulation of the Country’s new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) for 2014-10 is in full swing and is anticipated to disclose in April.
Regarding the FTP, the Director
General of Foreign Trade has already been initiated the consultation process
with Ministries including Textiles, MSME and Food Processing, stated by the
Commerce Ministry Officials.
The main objective of the FTP is on
improving the country’s exports and trade expansion, since it is an effective
tool of economic growth and employment generation.
The current policy of FTP from 2009-
2014, would end on 31 March, 2014 and it facilitates economic incentives which
include interest subsidy and other neutralization schemes. Various stakeholders
like Industry Chambers CII, FICCI, Assocham and Export Promotion Councils have
been sound out for the policy.
Government should fix the trade target
for five years in the new policy; should be the main element in the upcoming
Commerce Secretary Meeting on 20 February, stated by the apex export chamber
Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) president Rafeeq Ahmed.
Exports grew by scantly 3.79 per cent in January to $26.7 billion while imports, especially of gold and silver has demurred, lessening trade scarcity sharply to $9.92 billion in the month.
