Industry News

India plans to build a district- and state-level export support network of approximately 1,000 trained local personnel with regional-language capability, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal told industry stakeholders at a recent trade reforms workshop.

The proposed personnel will be trained and then deployed to handhold existing and prospective exporters, including through industry chambers and regional associations. For textile and man-made fibre businesses, the announcement was linked to wider industry discussions on FTA use, documentation, logistics, standards and testing infrastructure, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a press release.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) organised the workshop on Ease of Doing Business, Free Trade Agreement (FTA) opportunities and trade reforms at Bharat Mandapam. The meeting was followed by an interaction with Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada.

Goyal also said integrated commerce and industry offices are envisaged in major cities so that businesses can access multiple departments and agencies through a common point, instead of separate departmental offices being set up in every location. Officials were asked to examine suggestions made by industry representatives, and the ministry described the meeting as the first interaction of this kind with a regional industry association.

The Trade Connect platform under development is intended to give exporters product-wise and HSN-code-wise information, including destination-country tariffs, FTA opportunities and procedures for using FTA benefits. The platform is also planned to use digital and AI-enabled tools to help businesses identify potential export opportunities and infrastructure gaps, added the release.

A dedicated FTA and trade facilitation session covered opportunities and obligations under India's trade agreements, along with digitalisation, documentation and simplification of trade-related processes. Industry representatives sought stronger interoperability between government systems and foreign trade platforms, including digital transmission and verification of Certificates of Origin under FTAs.

The proposal to extend electronic processes to other FTA partners was noted for examination. Industry also called for further integration across the export cycle involving the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Customs, banks and other stakeholders.

Representatives from pharmaceuticals, textiles, man-made fibres, copper, automotive and engineering, air-conditioners and logistics, as well as MSMEs and women entrepreneurs, raised issues related to export competitiveness, trade documentation, regulatory processes, FTA utilisation, logistics, domestic supply chains, standards and testing infrastructure, and regulatory certainty.

The interaction also took up logistics and trade-process bottlenecks, including documentation backlogs and concerns over sea-freight costs. Sector-specific concerns included rules of origin and imports, export quality and regulatory procedures, import competition, testing and certification infrastructure, and regulatory certainty for MSMEs.

DPIIT presentations covered Startup India, Intellectual Property Rights, investment facilitation, the National Single Window System, industrial infrastructure and reforms linked to the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation. The ministry said the presentations highlighted simplification and rationalisation of regulatory processes, digitalisation, reduction of compliance burden and improvements in approval and service delivery systems.

The roller chain and industrial components manufacturing sector told the meeting that policy measures including Quality Control Orders, Minimum Import Price provisions and higher import duties had strengthened domestic manufacturing, the ministry said. Industry representatives from the sector cited a 15-fold expansion, new investments of about ₹500 crore (~$52.2 million) and around 5,000 new jobs.

The ministry said the importance of quality and international standards was also emphasised. Industry associations and Export Promotion Councils were encouraged to support awareness and compliance with destination-market standards and to help identify fraudulent, substandard or non-compliant manufacturing for regulatory action.