Govt simplifies norms to imports input materials to boost exports

livemint.com:

The government on Monday simplified norms for exporters to avail benefits of an advance authorization scheme under which free imports of input materials are allowed. This comes in the backdrop of declining merchandise goods exports that fell for the fifth consecutive month in June amid demand slowdown in the west and China.  India’s goods exports slumped over 22% year-over-year in June to hit an eight-month low of $32.97 billion as the value of exports of petroleum products nearly halved in June compared last year when commodity prices were on a boil following the Russia-Ukraine war.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) implements this scheme under the recently launched Foreign Trade Policy. Notably, the eligibility of inputs is determined by sector-specific norms committees based on input-output norms.

To make the norms fixation process more efficient, the DGFT said that it has created a user-friendly and searchable database of ad-hoc norms fixed in the previous years. These norms can be used by any exporter without approaching the norms committee, it added.

The database is hosted on the DGFT website and allows users to search using export or import item descriptions, technical characteristics, or Indian tariff classification codes. "This trade facilitation measure simplifies the advance authorisation and norms fixation process, resulting in shorter turnaround times for exporters, improved ease of doing business, and reduced compliance burden," it added.