Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has announced a network of approximately 1,000 trained local personnel to support exporters and prospective exporters at the district and state levels in regional languages.
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has announced a proposed network of approximately 1,000 trained local personnel with knowledge of regional languages to support exporters and prospective exporters at the district and state levels. Addressing an industry stakeholders meeting on ease of doing business and free trade agreement opportunities, Goyal said the personnel would be trained and subsequently deployed to provide handholding support to businesses, including through industry chambers and regional associations. He also said that instead of establishing separate offices of every department in every location, integrated commerce and industry offices are envisaged in major cities to provide businesses with a common point of access to multiple departments and agencies.
A dedicated session on recent free trade agreements and trade facilitation reforms provided industry with an overview of opportunities and obligations arising from India’s trade agreements. Industry representatives highlighted the need for greater interoperability between government systems and foreign trade platforms, including digital transmission and verification of Certificates of Origin under FTAs, with a proposal to extend such electronic processes to other FTA partners noted for examination. The interaction also covered logistics and trade-process bottlenecks, including documentation backlogs and concerns relating to sea-freight costs. Suryansh Jalan, Chief Business Officer of FarEye, said India’s free trade agreements could open markets but export growth depended on whether Indian manufacturers could promise a competitive delivered price, a reliable delivery date and a simple returns process, and called for connecting shipment consolidation, simpler customs processes, shared overseas warehousing and dependable last-mile delivery as the next policy priority.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
