Good Agricultural Practice promotion for Isabgol: webinar identifies seed quality, varietal development and FPO-led value addition to boost exports.
The webinar prioritized capacity building for farmers and FPOs in seed production and GAP, development of weather resilient high yield Isabgol varieties, and quality seed production. It recommended seed treatment, crop protection, and judicious pesticide use to meet international standards, alongside FPO based aggregation, value addition support, youth engagement in processing and market linkage strategies to increase exportable supply.

Millet export promotion enabling market linkages and a coordinated action plan to boost international sourcing and sales.
APEDA organized a Virtual Buyer-Seller Meet with millet exporters and Farmer Producer Organizations to strengthen market linkages, coordinate with research and nutrition stakeholders, and prepare a five-year Action Plan focused on increasing millet exports, identifying organic clusters, registering FPOs and exporters on the Farmer Connect Portal, and mapping potential international markets to operationalise sourcing and export development.

Foreign Trade Policy reform aims to boost exports, reduce transaction costs and develop district export hubs nationwide.
The Ministry will introduce a new Foreign Trade Policy focused on boosting merchandise and services exports by reducing transaction costs, enhancing ease of doing business, and creating a low cost operating environment through improved logistics and utilities. A central implementation element is the District Export Hubs initiative, to be advanced by the Department of Commerce and regional DGFT authorities with State and UT collaboration. Policy formulation has involved extensive stakeholder consultation and public submissions which will be examined for incorporation.

WTO Trade Policy Review affirms India's reform commitments and urges permanent solution for public stockholding food security.
The WTO Trade Policy Review of India recorded the Government's commitment to ongoing economic and regulatory reform, citing implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, liberalisation of the foreign investment regime, and the National Intellectual Property Rights policy. India emphasised that trade remedial measures are applied transparently in accordance with WTO provisions and urged a permanent solution for Public Stock Holding for food security, while noting lower applied tariff rates than WTO commitments and proactive implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement to improve cross border trade performance.

Export promotion via virtual buyer-seller meet expands agricultural and processed food trade opportunities with Bhutan.
APEDA, with the Indian Embassy in Bhutan, organized a Virtual Buyer-Seller Meet to promote exports of Indian agricultural and processed food products to Bhutan by facilitating government and trade stakeholder engagement, product presentations, and buyer seller linkages; the event-fifteenth in APEDA's series-featured Bhutanese agencies and Indian trade associations and was held virtually due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

Customs exchange rates set for specified foreign currencies, determining conversion for import and export from the notified effective date.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, under the Customs Act authority, supersedes the prior notification and prescribes distinct import and export conversion rates for specified foreign currencies in two annexed schedules, with Schedule I quoted per one unit and Schedule II per 100 units, effective from the stated operative date and applicable for customs valuation and related conversion purposes.

Authorised Economic Operator liberalisation offers MSMEs expedited customs clearance and relaxed eligibility requirements with a rapid decision timeline.
The Liberalised MSME AEO Package relaxes eligibility and documentary requirements for MSMEs holding a line Ministry certificate and a clean two year compliance record, allows enrolment after filing a minimum number of customs clearances in a year, and commits to an expedited electronic decision timeline for tier 1 applications. The programme simplifies application formalities, reduces bank guarantee obligations for MSMEs, and confers facilitative benefits-including Direct Port Delivery/Entry, priority refund processing, Client Relationship Manager support, exemption or reduction of bank guarantees, deferred duty payment at import clearance, and enhanced facilitation under Mutual Recognition Agreements for higher tiers.

Sanitary and phytosanitary measures compel exporters to upgrade quality compliance and post harvest systems for coriander exports.
Promotion of coriander production and exports through coordinated interventions focused on quality, post harvest management, value addition and market access. Emphasis on distribution of improved disease resistant seed varieties to combat stem gall, adoption of Good Agricultural Practices and Integrated Pest Management, compliance with quality and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements, use of common facility centres and mobilization of Farmer Producer Organizations for aggregation and supply chain efficiency.

Trade deficit widened as imports rose faster than exports, altering December trade composition and cumulative flows.
India's December 2020 merchandise trade shows marginally lower exports alongside higher imports, resulting in a widened monthly trade deficit. Non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports grew year-on-year for December, while oil imports declined and non-oil, non-gems & jewellery imports increased. Commodity-level shifts-large percentage gains in certain cereals, oil meals and iron ore exports and steep declines in silver and newsprint imports-drove the monthly changes reflected in the preliminary value tables for December 2020 and April-December 2020-21.

RoDTEP benefit availability tied to eligibility, exclusions, and procedural compliance; entitlement applies from implementation date.
The RoDTEP scheme creates a remission mechanism for duties and taxes on exports by specifying eligible tariff lines, applicable rates and value caps, excluded categories, and procedural rules for grant and utilisation of duty credits. Benefit entitlement is conditional on notified eligibility, exclusions and fulfilment of procedural requirements; entitlement is effective from the scheme implementation date even if detailed rates and parameters are prescribed shortly thereafter.

Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products: refunds of embedded taxes credited to exporters' customs ledger for duty payment.
The Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme refunds embedded Central, State and local duties and taxes not previously rebated, credits the refund to an exporter's Customs ledger to pay Basic Customs Duty, permits transfer of credits to other importers, requires exporters to declare intention in the shipping bill, and applies notified rates to eligible exports with retrospective effect to the operative commencement date.