SME Times News Bureau | 08 Aug, 2014
The Commerce and Industry Ministry is expected to announce the new five-year foreign trade policy (FTP) 20014-19 by the end of this month as it seeks to boost manufacturing and exports, reports media.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is giving final touches to the policy, it said.
"It is expected that the new FTP would be announced by August-end," an official source said.
The new policy would focus on wide range of issues including services exports, standards and branding of products.
India's exports in the last three years have been hovering around USD 300 billion and now there is a need to boost it further and enhance its contribution in the world trade.
All exports- and imports-related activities are governed by the FTP. It mainly aims at enhancing the country's exports and use trade expansion as an effective instrument of economic growth and employment generation.
Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has suggested to focus more on export of services and hi-tech products in the new policy.
The services sector contributes about 55 percent to the country's gross domestic product. During May, services exports were about USD 14 billion.
In April-June period of the current fiscal, exports grew by 9.31 percent to USD 80.11 billion.
India's exports in 2013-14 were worth USD 312.35 billion, lower than targeted USD 325-billion.
The country's exports stood at USD 300.4 billion in 2012-13 and USD 307 billion in 2011-12.
