Export import policy 2009

FOREIGN TRADE POLICY 2009-14

FOREWORD

The UPA Government has assumed office at a challenging
time when the entire world is facing an unprecedented economic
slow-down. The year 2009 is witnessing one of the most severe
global recessions in the post-war period. Countries across the
world have been affected in varying degrees and all major
economic indicators of industrial production, trade, capital
flows, unemployment, per capita investment and consumption
have taken a hit. The WTO estimates project a grim forecast
that global trade is likely to decline by 9% in volume terms
and the IMF estimates project a decline of over 11%. The
recessionary trend has huge social implications. The World
Bank estimate suggests that 53 million more people would fall
into the poverty net this year and over a billion people would
go chronically hungry.
Though India has not been affected to the same extent as
other economies of the world, yet our exports have suffered a
decline in the last 10 months due to a contraction in demand in the
traditional markets of our exports. The protectionist measures
being adopted by some of these countries have aggravated the

problem. After four clear quarters of recession there is some
sign of a turnaround and the emergence of ‘green shoots’,
though I would be hesitant to hazard a guess on the nature
and extent of this recovery and the time the major economies
will take to return to their pre-recession growth levels.
Announcing a Foreign Trade Policy in this economic
climate is indeed a daunting task. We cannot remain oblivious
to declining demand in the developed world and we need to set
in motion strategies and policy measures which will catalyse
the growth of exports.
Before defining the objectives of the new policy it would
be useful to take stock of our achievements in the foreign trade
over the last 5 years. The foreign trade policy announced by
the UPA Government in 2004 had set two objectives, namely,
(i) to double our percentage share of global merchandize trade
within 5 years and (ii) use trade expansion as an effective
instrument of economic growth and employment generation.
Looking back, we can say with satisfaction that the UPA
Government has delivered on its promise.
Agriculture and industry has shown remarkable resilience
and dynamism in contributing to a healthy growth in exports.
In the last five years our exports witnessed robust growth
to reach a level of US$ 168 billion in 2008-09 from US$ 63
billion in 2003-04. Our share of global merchandise trade was
0.83% in 2003; it rose to 1.45% in 2008 as per WTO estimates.
Our share of global commercial services export was 1.4% in
2003; it rose to 2.8% in 2008. India’s total share in goods and

services trade was 0.92% in 2003; it increased to 1.64% in
2008. On the employment front, studies have suggested that
nearly 14 million jobs were created directly or indirectly as a
result of augmented exports in the last five years.
The short term objective of our policy is to arrest and
reverse the declining trend of exports and to provide additional
support especially to those sectors which have been hit badly
by recession in the developed world. We would like to set a
policy objective of achieving an annual export growth of 15%
with an annual export target of US$ 200 billion by March 2011.
In the remaining three years of this Foreign Trade Policy i.e.
upto 2014, the country should be able to come back on the
high export growth path of around 25% per annum. By 2014,
we expect to double India’s exports of goods and services. The
long term policy objective for the Government is to double
India’s share in global trade by 2020.
In order to meet these objectives, the Government would
follow a mix of policy measures including fiscal incentives,
institutional changes, procedural rationalization, enhanced
market access across the world and diversification of export
markets. Improvement in infrastructure related to exports;
bringing down transaction costs, and providing full refund of
all indirect taxes and levies, would be the three pillars, which
will support us to achieve this target. Endeavour will be made
to see that the Goods and Services Tax rebates all indirect taxes
and levies on exports.
At this juncture, it is our endeavour to provide adequate

confidence to our exporters to maintain their market presence
even in a period of stress. A Special thrust needs to be provided
to employment intensive sectors which have witnessed job
losses in the wake of this recession, especially in the fields of
textile, leather, handicrafts, etc.
We want to provide a stable policy environment conducive
for foreign trade and we have decided to continue with the
DEPB Scheme upto December 2010 and income tax benefits
under Section 10(A) for IT industry and under Section 10(B)
for 100% export oriented units for one additional year till
31st March 2011. Enhanced insurance coverage and exposure
for exports through ECGC Schemes has been ensured till 31st
March 2010. We have also taken a view to continue with the
interest subvention scheme for this purpose.
We need to encourage value addition in our manufactured
exports and towards this end, have stipulated a minimum 15%
value addition on imported inputs under advance authorization
scheme.
It is important to take an initiative to diversify our export
markets and offset the inherent disadvantage for our exporters
in emerging markets of Africa, Latin America, Oceania and
CIS countries such as credit risks, higher trade costs etc.,
through appropriate policy instruments. We have endeavored
to diversify products and markets through rationalization of
incentive schemes including the enhancement of incentive
rates which have been based on the perceived long term
competitive advantage of India in a particular product group

and market. New emerging markets have been given a special
focus to enable competitive exports. This would of course be
contingent upon availability of adequate exportable surplus
for a particular product. Additional resources have been made
available under the Market Development Assistance Scheme
and Market Access Initiative Scheme. Incentive schemes are
being rationalized to identify leading products which would
catalyze the next phase of export growth.
As part of our policy of market expansion, we have signed
a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with
South Korea which will give enhanced market access to Indian
exports. We have also signed a Trade in Goods Agreement
with ASEAN which will come in force from January 01, 2010,
and will give enhanced market access to several items of Indian
exports. These trade agreements are in line with India’s Look
East Policy. We have also concluded the Mercosur Preferential
Trade Agreement. It shall be our endeavour to deepen our
trade engagement with other major economic groupings in the
world.
The Government seeks to promote Brand India through
six or more ‘Made in India’ shows to be organized across the
world every year.
In the era of global competitiveness, there is an imperative
need for Indian exporters to upgrade their technology and
reduce their costs. Accordingly, an important element of the
Foreign Trade Policy is to help exporters for technological
upgradation. Technological upgradation of exports is sought to

be achieved by promoting imports of capital goods for certain
sectors under EPCG at zero percent duty.
Under the present Foreign Trade Policy, Government
recognizes exporters based on their export performance and
they are called ‘status holders’. For technological upgradation
of the export sector, these status holders will be permitted to
import capital goods duty free (through Duty Credit Scrips
equivalent to 1% of their FOB value of exports in the previous
year), of specified product groups. This will help them to
upgrade their technology and reduce cost of production.
For upgradation of export sector infrastructure, ‘Towns of
Export Excellence’ and units located therein would be granted
additional focused support and incentives.
The policy is committed to support the growth of
project exports. A high level coordination committee is being
established in the Department of Commerce to facilitate
the export of manufactured goods / project exports creating
synergies in the line of credit extended through EXIM Bank
for new and emerging markets. This committee would
have representation from the Ministry of External Affairs,
Department of Economic Affairs, EXIM Bank and the Reserve
Bank of India. We would like to encourage production and
export of ‘green products’ through measures such as phased
manufacturing programme for green vehicles, zero duty EPCG
scheme and incentives for exports.
To enable support to Indian industry and exporters,
especially the MSMEs, in availing their rights through trade

remedy instruments under the WTO framework, we propose to
set up a Directorate of Trade Remedy Measures.
In order to reduce the transaction cost and institutional
bottlenecks, the e-trade project would be implemented in a
time bound manner to bring all stake holders on a common
platform. Additional ports/locations would be enabled on the
Electronic Data Interchange over the next few years. An Inter-
Ministerial Committee has been established to serve as a single
window mechanism for resolution of trade related grievances.
These are difficult times and we have set an ambitious goal
for ourselves. I am sure that the industry and the Government,
working in tandem, will be able to ensure that the Indian
exports become globally competitive and that we are able to
achieve the target, which we have set for ourselves.

(Anand Sharma)
Minister of Commerce Industry
Government of India
New Delhi
August 27, 2009

HIGHLIGHTS

OF

FOREIGN TRADE POLICY 2009-2014

Higher Support for Market and Product Diversification
1. Incentive schemes under Chapter 3 have been expanded
by way of addition of new products and markets.
2. 26 new markets have been added under Focus Market
Scheme. These include 16 new markets in Latin America
and 10 in Asia-Oceania.
3. The incentive available under Focus Market Scheme
(FMS) has been raised from 2.5% to 3%.
4. The incentive available under Focus Product Scheme
(FPS) has been raised from 1.25% to 2%.
5. A large number of products from various sectors have
been included for benefits under FPS. These include,
Engineering products (agricultural machinery, parts
of trailers, sewing machines, hand tools, garden tools,
musical instruments, clocks and watches, railway
locomotives etc.), Plastic (value added products), Jute
and Sisal products, Technical Textiles, Green Technology
products (wind mills, wind turbines, electric operated
vehicles etc.), Project goods, vegetable textiles and
certain Electronic items.
6. Market Linked Focus Product Scheme (MLFPS) has

been greatly expanded by inclusion of products classified
under as many as 153 ITC(HS) Codes at 4 digit level.
Some major products include; Pharmaceuticals, Synthetic
textile fabrics, value added rubber products, value added
plastic goods, textile madeups, knitted and crocheted
fabrics, glass products, certain iron and steel products
and certain articles of aluminium among others. Benefits
to these products will be provided, if exports are made to
13 identified markets (Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria,
South Africa, Tanzania, Brazil, Mexico, Ukraine,
Vietnam, Cambodia, Australia and New Zealand).
7. MLFPS benefits also extended for export to additional
new markets for certain products. These products include
auto components, motor cars, bicycle and its parts, and
apparels among others.
8. A common simplified application form has been
introduced for taking benefits under FPS, FMS, MLFPS
and VKGUY.
9. Higher allocation for Market Development Assistance
(MDA) and Market Access Initiative (MAI) schemes is
being provided.

Technological Upgradation
10. To aid technological upgradation of our export sector,
EPCG Scheme at Zero Duty has been introduced. This
Scheme will be available for engineering electronic
products, basic chemicals pharmaceuticals, apparels
textiles, plastics, handicrafts, chemicals allied products
and leather leather products (subject to exclusions of
current beneficiaries under Technological Upgradation

Fund Schemes (TUFS), administered by Ministry of
Textiles and beneficiaries of Status Holder Incentive
Scheme in that particular year). The scheme shall be in
operation till 31.3.2011.
11. Jaipur, Srinagar and Anantnag have been recognised as
‘Towns of Export Excellence’ for handicrafts; Kanpur,
Dewas and Ambur have been recognised as ‘Towns of
Export Excellence’ for leather products; and Malihabad
for horticultural products.

EPCG Scheme Relaxations
12. To increase the life of existing plant and machinery,
export obligation on import of spares, moulds etc. under
EPCG Scheme has been reduced to 50% of the normal
specific export obligation.
13. Taking into account the decline in exports, the facility of
Re-fixation of Annual Average Export Obligation
for a particular financial year in which there
is decline in exports from the country, has
been extended for the 5 year Policy period
2009-14.

Support for Green products and products from North
East
14. Focus Product Scheme benefit extended for export of
‘green products’; and for exports of some products
originating from the North East.

Status Holders
15. To accelerate exports and encourage technological

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upgradation, additional Duty Credit Scrips shall be given
to Status Holders @ 1% of the FOB value of past exports.
The duty credit scrips can be used for procurement of
capital goods with Actual User condition. This facility
shall be available for sectors of leather (excluding finished
leather), textiles and jute, handicrafts, engineering
(excluding Iron steel non-ferrous metals in primary
and intermediate form, automobiles two wheelers,
nuclear reactors parts, and ships, boats and floating
structures), plastics and basic chemicals (excluding
pharma products) [subject to exclusions of current
beneficiaries under Technological Upgradation Fund
Schemes (TUFS)]. This facility shall be available upto
31.3.2011.
16. Transferability for the Duty Credit scrips being issued
to Status Holders under paragraph 3.8.6 of FTP under
VKGUY Scheme has been permitted. This is subject to
the condition that transfer would be only to Status Holders
and Scrips would be utilized for the procurement of Cold
Chain equipment(s) only.

Stability/ continuity of the Foreign Trade Policy
17. To impart stability to the Policy regime, Duty Entitlement
Passbook (DEPB) Scheme is extended beyond 31-12-
2009 till 31.12.2010.
18. Interest subvention of 2% for pre-shipment credit for 7
specified sectors has been extended till 31.3.2010 in the
Budget 2009-10.
19. Income Tax exemption to 100% EOUs and to STPI units
under Section 10B and 10A of Income Tax Act, has been

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extended for the financial year 2010-11 in the Budget
2009-10.
20 The adjustment assistance scheme initiated in December,
2008 to provide enhanced ECGC cover at 95%, to the
adversely affected sectors, is continued till March, 2010.

Marine sector
21. Fisheries have been included in the sectors which are
exempted from maintenance of average EO under EPCG
Scheme, subject to the condition that Fishing Trawlers,
boats, ships and other similar items shall not be allowed
to be imported under this provision. This would provide
a fillip to the marine sector which has been affected by
the present downturn in exports.
22. Additional flexibility under Target Plus Scheme (TPS) /
Duty Free Certificate of Entitlement (DFCE) Scheme for
Status Holders has been given to Marine sector.

Gems Jewellery Sector
23. To neutralize duty incidence on gold Jewellery exports, it
has now been decided to allow Duty Drawback on such
exports.
24. In an endeavour to make India a diamond international
trading hub, it is planned to establish “Diamond Bourse
(s)”.
25. A new facility to allow import on consignment basis of
cut polished diamonds for the purpose of grading/
certification purposes has been introduced.
26. To promote export of Gems Jewellery products, the

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value limits of personal carriage have been increased from
US$ 2 million to US$ 5 million in case of participation
in overseas exhibitions. The limit in case of personal
carriage, as samples, for export promotion tours, has also
been increased from US$ 0.1 million to US$ 1 million.

Agriculture Sector
27. To reduce transaction and handling costs, a single window
system to facilitate export of perishable agricultural
produce has been introduced. The system will involve
creation of multi-functional nodal agencies to be
accredited by APEDA.

Leather Sector
28. Leather sector shall be allowed re-export of unsold
imported raw hides and skins and semi finished leather
from public bonded ware houses, subject to payment of
50% of the applicable export duty.
29. Enhancement of FPS rate to 2%, would also significantly
benefit the leather sector.

Tea
30. Minimum value addition under advance authorisation
scheme for export of tea has been reduced from the
existing 100% to 50%.
31. DTA sale limit of instant tea by EOU units has been
increased from the existing 30% to 50%.
32. Export of tea has been covered under VKGUY Scheme
benefits.

13

Pharmaceutical Sector
33. Export Obligation Period for advance authorizations
issued with 6-APA as input has been increased from the
existing 6 months to 36 months, as is available for other
products.
34. Pharma sector extensively covered under MLFPS for
countries in Africa and Latin America; some countries in
Oceania and Far East.

Handloom Sector
35. To simplify claims under FPS, requirement of ‘Handloom
Mark’ for availing benefits under FPS has been
removed.

EOUs
36. EOUs have been allowed to sell products manufactured
by them in DTA upto a limit of 90% instead of existing
75%, without changing the criteria of ‘similar goods’,
within the overall entitlement of 50% for DTA sale.
37. To provide clarity to the customs field formations, DOR
shall issue a clarification to enable procurement of spares
beyond 5% by granite sector EOUs.
38. EOUs will now be allowed to procure finished goods
for consolidation along with their manufactured goods,
subject to certain safeguards.
39. During this period of downturn, Board of Approvals
(BOA) to consider, extension of block period by one
year for calculation of Net Foreign Exchange earning of
EOUs.

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40. EOUs will now be allowed CENVAT Credit facility for
the component of SAD and Education Cess on DTA
sale.

Thrust to Value Added Manufacturing
41. To encourage Value Added Manufactured export, a
minimum 15% value addition on imported inputs
under Advance Authorization Scheme has now been
prescribed.
42. Coverage of Project Exports and a large number of
manufactured goods under FPS and MLFPS.

DEPB
43. DEPB rate shall also include factoring of custom duty
component on fuel where fuel is allowed as a consumable
in Standard Input-Output Norms.

Flexibility provided to exporters
44. Payment of customs duty for Export Obligation (EO)
shortfall under Advance Authorisation / DFIA / EPCG
Authorisation has been allowed by way of debit of Duty
Credit scrips. Earlier the payment was allowed in cash
only.
45. Import of restricted items, as replenishment, shall now
be allowed against transferred DFIAs, in line with the
erstwhile DFRC scheme.
46. Time limit of 60 days for re-import of exported gems and
jewellery items, for participation in exhibitions has been
extended to 90 days in case of USA.

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47. Transit loss claims received from private approved
insurance companies in India will now be allowed for
the purpose of EO fulfillment under Export Promotion
schemes. At present, the facility has been limited to
public sector general insurance companies only.

Waiver of Incentives Recovery, On RBI Specific Write off
48. In cases, where RBI specifically writes off the export
proceeds realization, the incentives under the FTP shall
now not be recovered from the exporters subject to certain
conditions.

Simplification of Procedures
49. To facilitate duty free import of samples by exporters,
number of samples/pieces has been increased from the
existing 15 to 50. Customs clearance of such samples
shall be based on declarations given by the importers with
regard to the limit of value and quantity of samples.
50. To allow exemption for up to two stages from payment
of excise duty in lieu of refund, in case of supply to an
advance authorisation holder (against invalidation letter)
by the domestic intermediate manufacturer. It would
allow exemption for supplies made to a manufacturer,
if such manufacturer in turn supplies the products to an
ultimate exporter. At present, exemption is allowed upto
one stage only.
51. Greater flexibility has been permitted to allow conversion
of Shipping Bills from one Export Promotion scheme to
other scheme. Customs shall now permit this conversion
within three months, instead of the present limited period
of only one month.

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52. To reduce transaction costs, dispatch of imported goods
directly from the Port to the site has been allowed under
Advance Authorisation scheme for deemed supplies. At
present, the duty free imported goods could be taken only
to the manufacturing unit of the authorisation holder or
its supporting manufacturer.
53. Disposal of manufacturing wastes / scrap will now be
allowed after payment of applicable excise duty, even
before fulfillment of export obligation under Advance
Authorisation and EPCG Scheme.
54. Regional Authorities have now been authorised to issue
licences for import of sports weapons by ‘renowned
shooters’, on the basis of NOC from the Ministry of
Sports Youth Affairs. Now there will be no need to
approach DGFT(Hqrs.) in such cases.
55. The procedure for issue of Free Sale Certificate has been
simplified and the validity of the Certificate has been
increased from 1 year to 2 years. This will solve the
problems faced by the medical devices industry.
56. Automobile industry, having their own RD
establishment, would be allowed free import of reference
fuels (petrol and diesel), upto a maximum of 5 KL per
annum, which are not manufactured in India.
57. Acceding to the demand of trade industry, the
application and redemption forms under EPCG scheme
have been simplified.

Reduction of Transaction Costs
58. No fee shall now be charged for grant of incentives under
the Schemes in Chapter 3 of FTP. Further, for all other

17

Authorisations/ licence applications, maximum applicable
fee is being reduced to Rs. 100,000 from the existing Rs
1,50,000 (for manual applications) and Rs. 50,000 from
the existing Rs.75,000 (for EDI applications).
59. To further EDI initiatives, Export Promotion Councils/
Commodity Boards have been advised to issue RCMC
through a web based online system. It is expected that
issuance of RCMC would become EDI enabled before
the end of 2009.
60. Electronic Message Exchange between Customs and
DGFT in respect of incentive schemes under Chapter 3
will become operational by 31.12.2009. This will obviate
the need for verification of scrips by Customs facilitating
faster clearances.
61. For EDI ports, with effect from December ’09, double
verification of shipping bills by customs for any of the
DGFT schemes shall be dispensed with.
62. In cases, where the earlier authorization has been cancelled
and a new authorization has been issued in lieu of the
earlier authorization, application fee paid already for
the cancelled authorisation will now be adjusted against
the application fee for the new authorisation subject to
payment of minimum fee of Rs. 200.
63. An Inter Ministerial Committee will be formed to redress/
resolve problems/issues of exporters.
64. An updated compilation of Standard Input Output Norms
(SION) and ITC (HS) Classification of Export and Import
Items has been published.

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Directorate of Trade Remedy Measures
65. To enable support to Indian industry and exporters,
especially the MSMEs, in availing their rights through
trade remedy instruments, a Directorate of Trade Remedy
Measures shall be set up.

19

Export import policy 2009

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