Piyush Goyal releases dynamic Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023

• The Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal announced the Foreign Trade Policy 2023, on March 31, 2023.
• The 2023 foreign trade policy has the vision to take India’s goods and services exports to $2 trillion by 2030.
• The FTP 2023 will come into effect from April 1, 2023.

Key highlights of the 2023 FTP

1. The policy will be dynamic. There is no end date to the policy, unlike the previous FTP’s which has duration of five years. The policy will be updated or changed as and when necessary, based on the feedback received.
2. The new FTP seeks to make the Indian rupee a global currency and allow international trade settlement in the domestic currency.
3. Target to achieve the goal of $1 trillion merchandise exports and $1 trillion services exports by 2030. 
4. 4 new towns, namely, Faridabad, Moradabad, Mirzapur and Varanasi declared as towns of export excellence. These are in addition to the existing 39 towns under the category. 
   • Faridabad will be the town of export excellence for apparels
   • Moradabad will be the town of export excellence for handicrafts
   • Mirzapur will be the town of export excellence for handmade carpet and dari
   • Varanasi will be the town of export excellence for handloom and handicraft
5. FTP 2023 will encourage e-commerce export, which is expected to grow to $200-300 billion by 2023.
6. The dairy sector has been exempted from maintaining average export obligation
7. The value limit for exports through courier services increased to Rs 10 lakh from Rs 5 lakh per consignment.  
8. FTP 2023 aims at streamlining the SCOMET (Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies) policy, which covers special chemicals, organisms, materials, equipment and technologies. The policy for the export of dual -use items under the SCOMET has been consolidated in one place for ease of understanding and compliance by the industry. 
9.  The policy has recommended restructuring of the Department of Commerce to make it future ready.
10. Foreign Trade Policy 2023 has introduced an amnesty scheme for one-time settlement of default in export obligation