Export Promotion Councils framework requires sectoral councils to promote exports, undergo mandatory audits and parliamentary review.
Export Promotion Councils are sectoral exporter bodies constituted under the Societies Registration Act or Companies Act to promote exports for specified product or service groups; they must facilitate exporter engagement, undergo mandatory audit, and have performance review reports placed before Parliament alongside the Departmental Annual Report; fourteen affiliated councils are listed by the Department of Commerce.

Import disruption from a key trading partner spurred policy push for domestic manufacturing and supplier diversification measures.
Governmental bans on certain mobile applications for cybersecurity and measures to promote indigenous apps accompany a substantial year on year decline in imports from a principal trading partner for April-July 2020 across multiple commodity groups. The release records reduced imports in electronics, telecom, computer hardware, machinery, chemicals, consumer electronics and iron & steel, and sets out mitigation measures emphasising domestic capacity expansion, ease of doing business reforms and targeted Production Linked Incentives, while urging supplier diversification and noting figures are provisional.

MSME relief measures expand credit guarantees and regulatory easing to support industrial revival and investment post pandemic.
Measures combine targeted MSME credit support including a collateral-free lending program and Fund of Funds, regulatory and compliance relaxations such as postponed filing deadlines and GST penalty relief, and structural reforms under the Aatmanirbhar agenda-including a revised MSME definition, deregulation of agriculture, enhanced foreign investment ceilings in select sectors, commercialization of coal mining and incentives for state level sector reforms-to stimulate investment, manufacturing and exports while providing labour and social support and creating institutional mechanisms for investment facilitation.

Industrial promotion through targeted credit guarantees and production-linked incentives to boost domestic manufacturing and investment facilitation.
Promotion of industry is advanced through credit guarantees, collateral-free lending, subordinate debt equity support, a Fund of Funds for MSME equity, expedited government payments to MSMEs, and domestic-favouring procurement adjustments. Complementary measures include liberalised foreign investment access, investor facilitation bodies, a centralized Investment Clearance Cell, Production Linked Incentives for priority manufacturing sectors, phased manufacturing programmes with customs duty rationalisation, and a national infrastructure pipeline to support industrial expansion.

Extension of export credit timelines and expanded tenors for pre and post shipment finance to support exporter liquidity.
The central bank extended time limits for realization and repatriation of export proceeds and for completion of remittances against imports, increased the permissible tenure for pre shipment and post shipment export credit for disbursements within the specified period, and raised the sanctioned limit for classification of export credit under Priority Sector Lending. Concurrently, the foreign trade directorate implements export promotion schemes including incentives, duty free inputs, refunds and transport and marketing support.

Fiscal and monetary stimulus preserved credit flow and liquidity, pairing household relief and MSME support with loan moratoriums and liquidity facilities.
A coordinated set of fiscal measures provided direct relief to households, concessional and collateral free credit for MSMEs, postponement of compliance deadlines, structural reforms to encourage investment and manufacturing, and incentives for sectoral deregulation. Complementary central bank actions included policy rate reductions, large scale liquidity injections, a temporary moratorium on loan instalments, resolution frameworks for eligible corporate exposures without ownership change, and special liquidity facilities for NBFCs, HFCs and MFIs to sustain credit flow and financial stability.

Rules of Origin compliance requires importer due diligence and entry of origin details to support legitimate preferential duty claims.
Importers must perform due diligence to establish prescribed origin criteria and retain specified minimum information; origin particulars from the Certificate of Origin must be entered in the Bill of Entry, supplementing operational certification procedures and enabling Customs verification to support correct concessional duty claims under FTAs.

Farmers' produce trade freedom enables alternative trading channels and electronic trading to boost agricultural exports and farmer incomes.
Measures to boost agricultural exports combine state Action Plans supported by the Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme and sectoral schemes, with AEP implementation via State Level Monitoring Committees, nodal and cluster committees, buyer-seller meets and an APEDA Farmer Connect Portal; three ordinances respectively enable trade outside notified markets and electronic trading, create a national framework for farm agreements, and limit central regulation of certain foodstuffs to extraordinary circumstances.

One District One Product aims to convert districts into export hubs by identifying export products and addressing bottlenecks.
One District One Product aims to convert each district into an export hub by identifying products with export potential, addressing export bottlenecks, supporting local exporters and manufacturers to scale up, and linking district producers with overseas buyers. Implementation will be driven by District Export Promotion Committees, chaired by the district administrative head and co chaired by the DGFT regional authority, which will prepare and act on District Export Action Plans; DGFT has developed a portal for States to upload district product information.

Export promotion measures expanded: regulatory relief, financial support, and sectoral incentives to sustain exports during the pandemic.
Measures to sustain exports during the COVID-19 pandemic include regulatory extensions and relaxations under the Foreign Trade Policy-such as extended policy validity, extended export obligation periods for Advance Authorisations and EPCG, and eased compliance for EOUs and SEZs-financial support through continued interest support on rupee export credit and banking relief for industry and MSMEs, and sectoral and facilitative interventions including Production Linked Incentive schemes, a common digital Certificate of Origin platform, an Agriculture Export Policy, services promotion plans, district export hub development, technical standards and skilling support, and mobilisation of overseas missions.

Import duty reduction on masoor dal reinstated, lowering tariffs for non US suppliers and adjusting US-origin rates.
Reduction of basic customs duty on masoor dal was implemented as a temporary tariff measure from September 18 to October 31, 2020, with differentiated reduced rates for imports depending on origin. The CBIC amended an earlier notification to reinstate lower import duty levels-more favorable rates for suppliers other than the United States and a comparatively higher reduced rate for US-origin shipments-following a prior temporary reduction and brief restoration of previous duties.

Human capital investment drives recovery: prioritise education, health and finance to restore sustainable medium term growth.
RBI guidance stresses that post COVID recovery requires macro financial stability supported by liquidity and rate actions, and strategic structural reforms across five areas: human capital (education and health reforms and financing), productivity (private R&D and innovation), exports/GVC participation (value addition and comprehensive trade agreements), tourism (integrated infrastructure, regulation and grievance redress) and food processing (value chain development, quality standards, FDI and priority sector credit). These measures call for coordinated public policy, bank financing and private sector participation to convert short term stabilization into sustainable medium term growth.

Export support measures: policy extensions and incentives to revive exports and strengthen exporter capacity post lockdown.
Government measures to boost exports include extension of the Foreign Trade Policy and Interest Equalization Scheme, sectoral PLI schemes for electronics and pharma, a Common Digital Platform for Certificates of Origin, a comprehensive Agriculture Export Policy, promotion of services exports and districts as export hubs, strengthening technical standards and skilling, mobilisation of Indian missions abroad, and financial relief measures focused on MSMEs to sustain export capacity.

Import restrictions on selected tariff lines pair with production-linked incentives to accelerate domestic manufacturing capacity.
Import regulation maintains multiple tariff lines as Restricted/Prohibited imports under the Foreign Trade Policy, applying to all source countries, while complementary measures-including production-linked incentives and ease-of-doing-business reforms-aim to expand domestic manufacturing in sectors like mobile phones, electronics components, bulk drugs and medical devices to strengthen supply-chain resilience.

SEZ compliance extensions enabled electronic renewals and interim reliefs to mitigate COVID disruption for developers and units.
To mitigate COVID disruption, the government extended filing deadlines, authorised Development Commissioners to grant electronic and interim extensions of Letters of Approval and other expiring compliances, permitted SEZ units to take computing equipment out for remote work, delegated DCs authority to allow temporary manufacturing broad-banding for essential items subject to post-facto ratification, and directed non-increase of lease rent along with deferred and staggered lease payments, while urging similar measures in State/Private SEZs and adoption of electronic work practices.

MSME relief measures expanded with credit guarantees and regulatory relaxations to support revival and improve liquidity.
Government measures addressing COVID-19 economic impact prioritize enterprise liquidity and structural reform: MSME relief includes collateral-free lending with full credit guarantee, subordinate debt for stressed firms, partial credit guarantees for lending to non-bank financial entities, a Fund of Funds for equity infusion, concessional credit for farmers and a dedicated credit facility for street vendors. Regulatory relief covers postponed filing deadlines, lower penalty interest for overdue GST, procurement rule changes, faster clearing of MSME dues and insolvency relaxations. Structural reforms under the Atmanirbhar package target deregulation, revised MSME definitions, liberalized foreign investment in select sectors, industrial land development and investment incentives.

Preferential trade agreement push with the UK to deepen market access, boost service exports and strengthen supply chain resilience.
The statement urges pursuit of a preferential trade agreement or early-harvest FTA with the United Kingdom to expedite bilateral market access and generate jobs, calling for immediate engagement and preparatory work ahead of a targeted negotiation milestone. It pairs that trade strategy with policy targets to expand service exports, leverage competitive advantages in healthcare and manufacturing across 24 prioritized sub-sectors, strengthen resilient supply chains with partners, and accelerate national digital infrastructure to support post pandemic economic recovery.

Trade contraction: exports and imports declined, but a services surplus produced an overall provisional trade surplus.
India's April-August 2020-21 and August 2020 trade statistics show significant year-on-year declines in exports and imports in both merchandise and services. Merchandise exports and imports contracted, with imports falling more steeply and oil imports sharply reduced amid lower Brent prices. Sectoral performance varied, with some agricultural and pharmaceutical items rising and many manufactured and gem sectors falling. Services receipts and payments decreased per RBI July data and August estimates, yet net services remained in surplus, contributing to a provisional overall trade surplus for April-August 2020-21.

Maritime smuggling interdiction stops export of garments to Bangladesh after trawler seized and suspects arrested.
Customs intercepted a fishing trawler on an unauthorised riverine route bound for Bangladesh and found about 400 gunny bags of sarees/garments, incriminating documents, identity cards, foreign SIM phones and flags; six persons were arrested and interrogation indicated intent to smuggle Indian goods across the border, with further investigation ongoing.

Reciprocal market access requires equivalent foreign access and stakeholder safeguards in forthcoming trade deals.
The Government prioritises reciprocal market access, negotiating trade deals only when equivalent access is granted and historic FTA imbalances are remedied. Future limited bilateral agreements will secure substantive national gains and include stakeholder safeguards for dairy, agriculture, MSMEs and indigenous manufacturers. Concurrently, deregulation and state level ease of doing business reforms, sector identification, cluster support, quality standards and supply chain initiatives are leveraged to boost domestic production and export competitiveness.