DGFT Assures Robust Process to Indian Exporters

MUMBAI, INDIA - In the wake of India’s merchandise export having started to grow in June 2016 after consecutive decline for 18 months, the World Trade Centre (WTC) Mumbai and All India Association of Industries (AIAI) organised an open house meet with Dr Sonia Sethi, IAS, Additional Director General of Foreign Trade on August 5, 2016.

Dr. Sethi reassured the micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector that her office is working towards improving governance and transparency with a time-bound schedule of services to ensure exports pick up in the coming months. “It has been just two months that I have taken over and my team is pulling up its socks on all issues faced by industry and the potential entrants in the MSME segment. The MSME clusters are our priority in export promotion,” she told a packed audience.

As per the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020, India’s exports have to jump from US$465.9 billion to US$ 900 billion by 2020 – i.e. from a share of 2% to 3.5%. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is the apex body in India for implementation of foreign trade policy with its four zonal and 33 regional offices. The office of additional DGFT western region caters to almost 40% of export-import related applications of India.

Dr Sethi’s team made presentations on Importer Exporter Code Number (IEC), Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) applications, advance authorization norms and the crucial export promotion capital goods scheme. Exporters were informed about the common errors they make in applications and their rectification.

The DGFT Mumbai office currently has a robust export obligation monitoring system and cases are tracked on a daily basis through a dynamic dashboard. The office claims that there is negligible pendency in IEC and MEIS applications. A sustained focus on efficiency, integrity and accountability is being maintained to serve the exporter community and help them get the Foreign Trade Policy benefits on time.

She further explained, “We have a comprehensive basket of deliverables and our effort is to facilitate and resolve difficulties faced by exporters. A large part of systems is now online”.

The office of Additional DGFT, Mumbai, is planning two important events, one in Thane (September 2016) and the other in Mumbai (November 2016), for the MSME clusters in Maharashtra for 2016-17. The MSME sector focus in Thane is electrical, iron, steel and machine tools, while the Mumbai event will focus on pharmaceuticals.

Mr Vijay Kalantri, Vice Chairman, WTC Mumbai pointed out that in the changing world scenario, exporters in India must look for new markets in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. “There is a new euphoria of growth in India and such discussions can only clear issues between the industry and the government.”

In photo From (L-R): Dr. Sonia Sethi, and Mr. Vijay Kalantari.

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