Economy

Foreign Trade Policy 2023 released; aims $2 trillion exports by 2030

The Centre released its Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023 on Friday, March 31 which aims to increase the country’s exports to $2 trillion by 2030 by shifting from incentives to a remission and entitlement-based system. The Foreign Trade Policy will come into effect from April 1, 2023.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, the new Foreign Trade Policy 2023 is intended to increase trade, support manufacturing, encourage exports, further allow ease of doing business, and also work towards making the Indian Rupee a global currency, further accelerating India’s emergence as the centre of the world’s trade. “The fast pace at which we are moving forward has instilled confidence that we all together will achieve our future goals with our hard work,” Union Minister Piyush Goyal said in his tweet.

The previous five-year plan became effective on April 1, 2015. However, it was repeatedly extended as a result of the worldwide economic disruptions brought on by the coronavirus outbreak. The last extension was given in September 2022 till March 31, 2023. In contrast to the custom of introducing a 5-year FTP, Santosh Sarangi, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), explained that the new policy has no end date and will be updated as and when necessary. The DGFT also said that India is likely to end this fiscal year with total exports of $760-770 billion as against $676 billion in 2021-22. As per the government, it is estimated that extended e-commerce exports are expected to grow to $200-300 billion by 2030.

The new FTP aims to internationalise the Indian rupee and enable the settlement of commerce in the national currency. Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal stated that the government is concentrating on strengthening the rupee payment system and that India is prepared to deal in rupees with nations that are experiencing currency failure or have a shortage of dollars.

As per the new FTP, including the already existing 39 towns, four other new towns of export excellence have been declared, namely- Faridabad for apparel, Moradabad for handicrafts, Mirzapur for handmade carpets, and Varanasi for handloom and handicrafts.

The DGFT added that the FTP 2023 is dynamic and responsive to changing trade conditions. The Department of Commerce is being reorganized, he added, in order to make it “future-ready.”

 

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