New Delhi. The Government of India has taken three such major economic decisions today which will give a new direction to both the country’s export policy and industrial self-reliance in the times to come. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that an export promotion mission worth Rs 25,060 crore has been approved in the cabinet meeting, which is considered to be the biggest step towards strengthening the export ecosystem of the country.
Along with this, a new credit guarantee scheme of Rs 20,000 crore has been launched so that exporters, especially the MSME sector, can get cheap and easy credit. The third decision focuses on four important minerals on which high royalty was imposed till now. By reducing taxes on these, the government has opened the way to promote mining and production.
export promotion mission
The new Export Promotion Mission of the government has been launched for a period of six years, which aims to strengthen India in the global trading network. The focus is on those sectors which are currently facing challenges in global demand, such as textiles, leather, gems-jewellery, engineering goods and marine products.
There are two pillars of this mission. ‘Export Promotion’ and ‘Export Direction’. The objective of export promotion is to provide credit to exporters at affordable interest rates so that the prices of their products remain competitive in the global market. The government will provide interest subvention on pre and post shipment credit. Also, special credit cards for e-commerce exporters and micro and small exporters will be given priority.
The focus of the export direction is to deal with non-tariff barriers from countries that use technical or certification rules to make trade difficult. Under this, India will provide financial assistance to its exporters for needs like testing, technical measurement, certification and packaging.
The government has said that now small exporters will also be given assistance to showcase their products in international trade fairs and exhibitions so that they can get global exposure. Apart from this, inland transport and logistics support is also an important part of the scheme, which will reduce the expenses of exporters coming from hilly or remote areas.
New credit scheme of Rs 20 thousand crores
The second major decision is related to the expansion of the credit guarantee scheme for exporters. In the current global economic environment, the government wants that Indian exporters can get cheap and secure credit. For this, a new scheme of Rs 20,000 crore has been started in which National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC) will give 100 percent guarantee.
Under the scheme, exporters will get 20 percent additional credit on their existing working capital and the interest rate will be one percent lower than before. This will especially provide relief to micro, small and medium exporters who are struggling with the ever-increasing costs in foreign markets. This scheme will be implemented till March 2026 and if needed, it can be extended further.
Relief on critical minerals
The third important decision is related to those four critical minerals which are used in strategic sectors like electric vehicles, electronics and defence. These include graphite, zirconium, rubidium and cesium. Now the royalty on these has been reduced so that the participation of investors increases and the production of these minerals in the country can be accelerated.
The government believes that this step will encourage auction of new mining blocks and strengthen India’s industrial supply chain. For a long time these minerals were dependent on imports, but now with the increase in domestic production the import bill will also reduce.
