The government will review the trade situation in March before deciding on the announcement of a new Foreign Trade Policy, Director General of Foreign Trade Santosh Kumar Sarangi said on Friday.
Attending a meeting organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations in Tiruppur, Mr. Sarangi explained to mediapersons that the volatility in the global trade scenario and the Russia- Ukraine conflict had led the government and many industry bodies to take a view in September that it might not be the right time to announce a new Foreign Trade Policy. The Centre had therefore extended the existing policy till the end of March 2023.
The decision was to evaluate the evolving situation and calibrate a policy that would be ‘more stable, more long term’, rather than bringing out a policy that would be forced to tackle a highly volatile situation. Given that the volatility was, however, continuing, he said: “We are in the process of framing a new foreign trade policy... we will hold a review about the FTP 15-20 days before March 31. But notwithstanding that we are working on the contours of the [new] foreign trade policy.”
Asked about an amnesty scheme for cases of default under the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme, he said negotiations were on with the Department of Revenue to finalise the contours of the scheme. There were extensive discussions with the industry too. “We have agreed upon the broad contours with the Department of Revenue.” The amnesty scheme would be announced when the details were sorted out.
Mr. Sarangi said exports were expected to touch $450 billion this financial year. While 2023 was expected to be a challenging year, markets such as Latin America, Africa and West Asian countries were expected to see growth. The government had signed an FTA with the UAE and was talking to other Gulf countries to explore the possibility for FTAs. On an FTA with the U.K., he said both the countries had agreed to focus on the quality of the FTA. Negotiations were on to ensure that the returns for both the countries were maximised.
