The Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI) in association with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) organized the “Awareness Program on India’s new Foreign Trade Policy – 2023” in the city at Federation House on Thursday late evening.
Mr Sambhaji Chavan – ITS, Joint Director General of Foreign Trade, Dr B Punnam Kumar, Deputy Director General of Foreign Trade and Karthik Prasanna from Amazon, India, Delhi were invited to present their views on the New Foreign Trade Policy that is now effective from 1st April this year.
Dr B Punnam Kumar, Deputy Director General of Foreign Trade familiarized various aspects of the policy to the attendees. The policy was built on the principles of trust and partnership with exporters, he said. He explained the Amnesty Scheme digitization and flexibility of various schemes that exporters can avail from the new Foreign Trade Policy.
As per the amnesty scheme, which was announced in the Foreign Trade Policy, EXIM traders who failed to meet the export obligation under the Advance and EPCG (export promotion for capital goods) authorisation scheme can come clean by paying customs duty and interest, subject to a ceiling of 100 per cent.
While releasing the FTP-23, it was announced that an Amnesty Scheme was planned to provide a one-time facility for the regularisation of cases of Export Obligation (EO) default of Advance Authorisation Scheme (AAS) and Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) authorisation under the scheme.
Mr Sambhaji Chavan, ITS, Joint Director General of Foreign Trade delivered the keynote address. He said the policy is aimed at promoting ease of doing trade. It is transformative and futuristic.
Mr Karthik Prasanna from Amazon India, Delhi, India explained at large the importance of E-Commerce and digitization are the primary need for India to export its Goods and Services. He mentioned that India in comparison with China is doing about 5-8% of e-commerce trade in the world. He felt that we were way behind in comparison and need to scale up e-Commerce.
Giving his welcome address Anil Agarwal, President of FTCCI said the new foreign trade policy gave scope to a lot of young aspirants from Telangana state to export their Goods and Services. Telangana IT exports made a landmark achievement in 20222 and now lead in the export of IT services at number 3 in India currently.
Mr Chakravarthi AVPS, Chair of International Trade & Business Relations of FTCCI said the approach of the new FTP 2023 is laudable. According to him, the new export policy is based on four pillars: Incentive to Remission, Export Promotion through Collaboration, Ease of Doing Business, and Emerging Areas. Another key aspect is the focus on Emerging Areas like E-Commerce Exports and then taking development into districts making them export hubs.
According to him, the key highlight of the policy is reducing user charges in advanced authorized and EPCG schemes as well. Zeroing of physical interface with online approvals enabling the ease of exports. One more salient feature is a reduction in the threshold level of export turnovers to achieve respective Star Status.
He suggested making some provisions in the policy to encourage women to play an active role in exports to new markets and geographies.
Ms. Khyati Amol Naravane, CEO of FTCCI, gave introductory remarks and set the tone for the dialogue during the session.
It was attended by over 100 attendees. A question-and-answer session was held at the end of the session.
Mr Rupesh Agarwal, Co-Chair of the International Trade and Business Relations Committee of FTCCI proposed a vote of thanks.
