Government seeks ideas for new foreign trade policy

The Ministry of Commerce & Industry has invited stakeholders to offer suggestions for boosting the exports and trade for its new foreign trade policy (2020-25). Given the fact that some of the existing export subsidies, including the MEIS, will have to be withdrawn since they are incompatible with the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, this is a significant step. The government will now have to adopt measures, which are compliant with the multilateral trade body’s framework. These include rebates on all input taxes paid by exporters at the Central and State levels and subsidies for research & development and modernization of production process. Further, since India has crossed the WTO threshold of per capita GNI (gross national income) of US$ 1,000 for three years in a row, it can no longer offer export sops as per rules.