Under the Market Access Initiative (MAI) Scheme, assistance is given to Export Promotion Councils, Trade Bodies, Commodity Boards, etc. for undertaking various export facilitation and promotion activities. The details of the activities approved under the MAI Scheme and the funds utilised under the Scheme since FY 2019-20 till date are as under:

Financial Year	No. of activities approved	Fund allocated for the Scheme (in ₹Crore)	Fund utilised (in ₹ Crore)
2019-20	490	325.00	325.00
2020-21	240	171.40	171.40
2021-22	424	140.00	140.00
2022-23 (as on 27.3.2023)	522	190.00	159.91

The funds released under the Scheme since 2019-20 to the Carpet Export Promotion Council (CEPC), the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), and the Handloom Export Promotion Council (HEPC), which mainly cater to the cottage industries and handicraft units are as under:

MAI Assistance released (in ₹Crores)
Financial Year	CEPC	EPCH	HEPC
2019-20	10.55	8.91	2.27
2020-21	2.38	5.01	1.75
2021-22	0	0.84	0.08
2022-23 (as on 27.3.2023)	5.34	2.64	3.20

The Indian Trade Portal (www.indiantradeportal.in), developed and maintained by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), caters to the needs of EXIM community.  The facilitation provided by the Indian Trade Portal to the exporters includes product-wise countries tariff/preferential tariff information applicable for Indian products, rules of origin, market access requirements, Export-Import policy, export benefits, etc. Further, the Trade/Tender Queries are published by the Indian Missions abroad on the portal to enable Indian exporters to get maximum benefits out of it.

This information has been given by the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Smt. Anupriya Patel in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Market Access Initiative expands export facilitation support for export promotion councils and trade bodies, strengthening market access and information services. The Market Access Initiative provides financial assistance to Export Promotion Councils, Trade Bodies and Commodity Boards for approved export facilitation and promotion activities, with allocated and utilised funds reported for recent fiscal periods; targeted support has been given to councils serving cottage and handicraft sectors. Complementing the funding, the Indian Trade Portal offers exporters tariff and preferential tariff information, rules of origin, market access requirements, export-import policy guidance and trade/tender queries from missions abroad to improve market access.