Year End Review 2023-Ministry of Commerce and Industry

About the Ministry

• Union Minister- Shri Piyush Goyal
• It is responsible for administering two departments namely
  • Department of Commerce
  • Department of Industry and Internal Trade

• Autonomous Bodies-
  • The Marine Products Export Development Authority
  • Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority

• Export Inspection Council
• Indian Institute of Foreign Trade
• Indian Institute of Packaging
• Commodity Boards

The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA)-

• Statutory body- Under MPEDA Act 1972.
• Role- It is entrusted with the primary task of promotion of export of marine products.
• Headquarters- Cochin, Kerala.

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA)-

• Statutory body - Under APEDA Act 1985.
• Role – Responsible for export promotion and development of scheduled products like honey, meat, dairy products etc.,
• Headquarters- New Delhi.

Export Inspection Council (EIC)

• It is the official export –certification body of India which ensures quality and safety of products exported from India.
• It is set up under Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Act, 1963 to ensure sound development of export trade of India through quality control and inspection and matters connected therewith.
• Headquarters- New Delhi
• Role- To ensure that products notified under the Act are meeting the requirements of the importing countries in respect of their quality and safety.
• It is the only organization in India having global acceptance.

Key Initiatives/Achievements of the Ministry

Export Performance

• Despite global headwinds, both merchandise and services exports have robust performance.
• India’s overall export (Merchandise plus Services) stood at USD 499.46 billion during April-November 2023 as compared to USD 506.52 billion during April-November 2022.

Foreign Trade Policy, 2023

• It was launched with the aim of India’s exports to 2 trillion dollars by 2030.
• Four Pillars

1. Incentive to Remission
2. Export promotion through collaboration
3. Ease of doing business, reduction in transaction cost and e-initiatives
4. Emerging Areas

• It encourages recognition of new towns through Towns of Export Excellence Scheme and exporters through Status Holder Scheme.

Districts as Export Hubs Scheme

• Aim- To convert each district of the country into an export hub.
• One District One Product Scheme has been merged with this scheme; it is a part of new Foreign Trade Policy.
• It will increase production, grow exports, generate economic activity and achieve the goal of AtmaNirbhar Bharat, Vocal for local and Make in India.

Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme

• Launch year- 2017-18
• Objective- To enhance export competitiveness by bridging gaps in export infrastructure, creating focused export infrastructure, first mile and last mile connectivity for export-oriented projects and addressing quality and certification measures.
• It will provide financial assistance to Central/State Government owned agencies for setting up or up-grading export infrastructure in States/UTs.

Market Access Initiatives Scheme

• It is an Export Promotion Scheme envisaged to act as a catalyst to promote India’s export on a sustained basis.
• It provides financial assistance for export promotion and the scheme is formulated on focus product-focus country approach to evolve specific market and specific product through market studies/survey.

Interest Equalization Scheme

• Launch year- 2015
• It is a rebate of interest provided on pre and post shipment export credit like packing credit.
• The Scheme is recently extended up to March 2024.

Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products Scheme

• Launch year- 2021
• It is a tax refund scheme for exporters that replaced the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS).
• It would not be available in respect of duties and taxes already exempted, credited or remitted.

Government e-Marketplace

• It is a 100% government owned National Public Procurement Portal for procurement of goods and services required by Central and State Government organizations.
• GeM endeavours to make public procurement process transparent, efficient and inclusive.
• Startup Runaway 2.0- It is an opportunity for Start-ups to showcase their innovative products and services to Government buyers and engage in public procurement.
• MSME SC/ST entrepreneurs on GeM- GeM is collaborating with various stakeholders from MSME ecosystem with special focus on entrepreneurs from the Scheduled Caste/ Schedule Tribes.
  • Mandatory procurement - 25% from MSMEs
  • Sub target procurement - 4% goods and services from MSME entrepreneurs within SC/ST communities
• Womaniya - It seeks to showcase products made by women entrepreneurs and women self-help groups; it promotes women entrepreneurship by aligning them with opportunities to sell their products at GeM portal.
• SARAS Collection- It is a store front in GeM for marketing of Self-help group (SHG) products.

Common Digital Platform for Certificate of Origin

• It has been launched to facilitate trade and increase Free Trade Agreement utilization by exporters.
• It is designed to facilitate exporters through a secure, electronic, paperless procedures.

G20

• Under India’s Presidency, the G20 Trade and Investment Ministerial reached a ground breaking consensus.
• Jaipur Call for Action- It was issued for enhancing access to information for MSMEs.
• G20 Generic Mapping Framework for Global Value Chains (GVCs)- It contained key building blocks of data, analysis, and representation of GVC data.

Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity

• It was launched jointly by the USA and other partner countries of the Indo-Pacific region in 2022 at Tokyo, Japan.
• It has 14 partner countries including India.
• It seeks to strengthen economic partnership amongst participating countries with the objective of enhancing resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness, and competitiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.

IPEF Supply Chain Resilience Agreement - During the 3^rd IPEF Ministerial meeting, 2023 held in San Francisco, California, the first-of-its-kind IPEF Supply Chain Resilience Agreement was signed.

• The Agreement is expected to make IPEF supply chains more resilient, robust, and well-integrated, and contribute towards economic development and progress of the region as a whole.

Bharat Mandapam

• International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (IECC) complex was inaugurated at New Delhi.
• It will help showcase and promote India as a global business destination
• Prime Minister of India urged the nation to move ahead with the principle of ‘Think Big, Dream Big, Act Big’.

Vanijya Bhawan

• It is the new premises of Ministry of Commerce and Industry located in New Delhi.
• It is designed as a smart building which incorporates the principles of sustainable architecture with a special focus on energy saving.

NIRYAT Portal

• National Import-Export Record for Yearly Analysis of Trade is launched in 2022.
• It is developed as a one stop platform for stakeholders to get all necessary information related to India’s foreign trade.

Invest India

• It is the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of India and acts as the first point of reference for investors.
• It acts as a facilitation arm for the Government of India for two of its key initiatives “Make in India” and “Start-up”.

Make in India

• It is an initiative under Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan launched in 2014.
• Role- To promote entrepreneurship, innovation, and skill development in India's manufacturing, infrastructure, and service sectors.
• Pillars- New processes, new infrastructure, new sectors, and new mind set.
• It was one of the first 'Vocal for Local' initiatives that exposed India's manufacturing domain to the world.

Start-up India

• It was launched in 2016 with the objective of supporting entrepreneurs, building up a robust start-up ecosystem and transforming India into a country of job creators instead of job seekers.

Fund of Funds

• It was launched to encourage investments in the startups.
• It does not directly invest in startups, instead provides capital to SEBI-registered Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), known as daughter funds, who in turn invest money in growing Indian startups through equity and equity-linked instruments.
• Mandate- Small Industrial Development Bank of India.

Startup India Seed Fund Scheme

• Aim- To provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry and commercialization.
• It envisages building a robust Start-up ecosystem in the country for nurturing innovation and providing opportunities to budding entrepreneurs.

Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS)-

• It has been operationalized in 2023 which provides credit guarantees to loans extended by Scheduled Commercial Banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) registered Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs).
• Aim- Providing credit guarantee up to a speci?ed limit against loans extended by Member Institutions (MIs) to ?nance eligible borrowers viz. entities recognised as ‘startups’ by DPIIT PM Gati Shakti (Logistics Division).

Geographical Indications Registry

• It is a statutory organization setup for the administration of the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999.
• Geographical indication is a type of intellectual property right that is basically used for product protection with regards to its geographical origin.

National Single Window System

• It was launched in 2021 to provide “end to end” facilitation and support to investors.
• It is a one-stop shop for investor related approvals and services in the country,

PM Gati Shakti (Logistics Division)

• PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP)- It was launched on 2021 for providing multimodal connectivity infrastructure to various economic zones.
• National Logistics Policy, 2022- It complements the PM Gati Shakti NMP, it lays down an overarching interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral, multi-modal jurisdictional and comprehensive policy framework for the Logistics Sector.
• Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) - It was launched in 2022 designed and developed by National Industrial Corridor Corporation, under the guidance of NITI Aayog.
• Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS)- The report was launched in 2022, it is an indigenous logistics performance index developed on the lines of World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index.

Bilateral Co-operation

India-US

• India – United States Trade Policy Forum (TPF) - It launched a new working group on Resilient Trade to deepen bilateral dialogue on a range of issues that can enhance the resiliency and sustainability of the trade relationship.
• Semiconductor Supply Chains - A MoU on Semiconductor Supply Chain and Innovation Partnership was signed between India and US to facilitate supply chain resiliency.
• Innovation Handshake- It is a joint initiative between India and US to enhance innovative ecosystems through the framework of India-US Commercial Dialogue.

India-UAE

• Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) - It is the free trade agreement between India and UAE that was signed in 2022
• It covers the trade in services and investment, and other areas of economic partnership.
• India became the first country with which the UAE has signed a CEPA.
• UAE-India CEPA Council (UICC) - India & UAE agreed to set-up a UAE-India CEPA Council (UICC) as a B2B collaboration mechanism, with a focus on MSMEs and start-ups, for building greater economic linkages and optimizing CEPA benefits.

India - Australia

• Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) -India and Australia have signed the historic Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (Ind-Aus ECTA) in 2022.
• It is the 1^st free trade agreement signed by India with a developed country in a decade and 1^st time that India has taken binding most-favoured-nations (MFN) commitments even though it is only in select services.
• It is estimated to double trade between the two nations and generate one million jobs.

Other Quick events

• Global Millets (Shree Anna) Conference - It was held in New Delhi to stimulate the exports of millets from India and provide market linkage to the producers.
• Spices Board - It organized the World Spice Congress at Navi Mumbai in 2023.
• National Turmeric Board - The government notified the constitution of National Turmeric Board in 2023.
• It will focus on the development and growth of turmeric and turmeric products in the country.