New Delhi: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and Textiles, Piyush Goyal, chaired the second meeting of the reconstituted Board of Trade held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi on 16 January. Goyal announced the initiation of work on Trade Connect ePlatform, an intermediary platform providing the facility to connect Indian exporters and entrepreneurs with various stakeholders in international trade. It will commence shortly.
The ePlatform is expected to provide facilitation for new and aspiring exporters, information on various regulations to access markets, sectors, export trends, easy access to benefits under Free Trade Agreements, access to sector-specific events, along with a facility to address trade-related queries to officials in the Government of India and associated entities to get expert advice. The platform is likely to be ready in a 3-4 month time period.
In his opening remarks, Goyal said that the Board of Trade meeting is an opportunity to deliberate on key issues, including how to leverage the FTAs for our benefit, how to encourage Startups/MSMEs to go beyond our borders and start exporting, boosting exports also from the services sector, which remains a key driver of export growth from the country.
Goyal stressed the need to internationalize goods and services to help improve the quality of the products and also to have economies of scale. He further emphasized making exports a people’s movement with the States, Centre, and the Industry, all playing an equal role in accelerating Indian exports.
The Minister emphasized the proactive role to be played by the States/UTs to achieve higher exports and contribute to the nation-building process. He further assured that all the issues raised by the participants will be addressed, and the suggestions made by them in the meeting today will be considered by the concerned. While talking about the potential in service exports, the Minister emphasized Education, Tourism, and Audio-Visual services as areas with huge potential.
The Board of Trade meeting focused on reviewing the export performance to achieve the $2 trillion export target for the year 2030, the priorities identified in the new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023, and the strategies and measures to be adopted to take forward export growth. The reconstituted Board of Trade provides an opportunity to have regular discussions and consultations with trade and industry and advises the Government on policy measures connected with the Foreign Trade Policy to achieve the objectives of boosting India’s trade.
It provides a platform to the State governments and UTs for sharing State-oriented perspectives on exports. It also acts as a platform for the Government of India to appraise States and UTs about international developments affecting India’s trade and the role States and UTs can play in promoting exports. It remains an important mechanism for deliberations on trade-related issues with Industry bodies, Associations, Export Promotion Councils, and State/UT governments. The 29 non-official members were also invited to the Board of Trade meeting.
During the Board of Trade meeting, presentations were made on a variety of subjects such as India’s Import/Export Performance and State export performance, PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan Multimodal Connectivity, Leveraging FTAs for boosting export growth, discussion on foreign trade vision, trade facilitation measures undertaken by customs, Convergence, and expansion of Government e-Marketplace, reforms in the Indian patent system, Intervention to boost Pharma exports, etc.
Ministers from the States made interventions in the meeting, giving their State-specific suggestions, and also expressed their commitment to creating a favorable ecosystem in promoting external trade.
The meeting saw the participation of Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Anupriya Patel, Commerce Secretary, Sunil Barthwal, Special Secretary, Logistics Sumita Dawra, Director-General of Foreign Trade, Santosh Sarangi, and other senior officials and members of Indian Industry.
The meeting was attended by various State Ministers and other senior officials of key line ministries and States, all major trade and industry bodies, Export Promotion Councils, and industry associations.