Districts to be ranked on Export Competitiveness

The Commerce Ministry has said that, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) will be assisting the states and union territories in order to prepare the “Annual Export Ranking Index” of different districts. The index would be ranking each district on the export competitiveness.

Highlights

The union government is working on ‘developing districts as export hubs’ in order to decentralise the export promotion activity. Earlier the export promotion was dealt by the Central government only. No state or districts was involved into the decision-making process of the promoting goods and services which are produced at the grassroots level.

District as Export Hub Initiative

The idea to implement the District as export hub initiative was put forward in order to create an institutional framework across the states and in the districts. This framework will be utilised to assess every district with respect to the ongoing export activities, with respect to the capacities to enhance those activities and to make a time bound action plans so as to take those initiatives forward. Under the initiative, each district is being mobilised in order for the districts to realise its potential as the export hub.

Significance of the Move

This move will help in boosting the domestic production and making the districts an active stakeholder in driving the export growth of local products and services. This is being done with the objective of enabling the MSMEs, farmers and small industries so as to get benefit of export opportunities in the international markets. It also seeks to shift the focus on district-led export growth to attain the self-sufficiency and self- reliance.

District Export Action Plan

This plan was announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the year 2019 during the Independence Day speech. Under the initiative, a district export action plan will be formulated which will include identification of the goods & services which are having export potential in each district. The plan will comprise of the institutional or other responsibilities, regulatory & operational reform, specifics of policy, and infrastructure or utilities or logistics interventions which are required from producer or farm to the export destination. It will cover the aspects like production, improvements required in design, productivity or competitiveness, aggregation, transportation through cold chain and import & export formalities. It will also identify the Issues in GI production, registration, marketing and exports.

Month: Current Affairs - March, 2021