The major highlights of the Department of Commerce during the year 2020 are as follows:

1. Relief for exporters during Covid-19

• Foreign Trade Policy extended upto 31st March 2021
• Validity of Advance Authorizations extended by 6 months
• Export Obligation Period extended by 6 months
• The Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), having provision of Rs 3 lakh Cr, is 100% credit guarantee and Collateral Free Automatic Loans for MSMEs
• Fund of Funds for equity infusion in MSMEs and additional support to farmers via concessional credit

2. India as a supplier of medical supplies to the world (During COVID-19)

• DGFT tweaked both export and import policy of sensitive medical inputs to ensure adequate supplies within the country
• India supplied around 45 tons and 400 million tablets of hydroxychloroquine to around 114 countries globally
• Paracetamol supplies of around 96 million tablets, 0.4 million of suspension IP, 0.8 million bottles and 270 MT, in various other forms were made to 24 countries, along with supplies of other essential materials to ~57 countries
• PPE production capacity revamped to half million kits everyday from virtually nil earlier

3. Enhanced ease of doing business through electronic governance and trade facilitation

• Electronic Platform for Preferential Certificate of Origin was released. Various FTA partner countries were persuaded to accept e-COOs and till date ~1.3 Lakh COOs have been issued from the e-platform
• Duty Exemption Authorizations such as Advance Authorization & EPCG were made paperless and the digitally encrypted authorization data is auto-transmitted to Customs
• MEIS Export Benefits issued through faceless, auto-approval processes in real-time and supplemented with an online module for voluntary e-transfer of Duty Credit Scrips
• Implemented Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS)for advance intimation of steel imports
• Import Monitoring System (IMS) being developed for Aluminum, Copper, Footwear, Furniture, Paper, Sports Goods, Gym equipment etc
• 24x7 Auto-Generation of e-IEC (Importer Exporter Code)

4. Reducing Non-Essential Imports

• Restrictions imposed on items wherein there exists domestic capabilities to produce/ manufacture goods or to encourage domestic industries such as Gold & Silver, Bio-fuels, Aggarbatti, New pneumatic tyres, Power tiller & components and Colour television sets etc
• Imports of items such as cut flowers, natural rubber etc are being discouraged by imposing port-restrictions; and to reduce imports of items such as toys and LED products and DC or AC supplied control gears for LED modules they are now subject to compliance of BIS standards
• Imports of ACs with refrigerants & Stock lot of writing & printing paper have been prohibited
• During the period from 01.04.2020 to 30.12.2020, DGTR initiated 43 anti-dumping investigations, 4 countervailing duty investigations and 1 safeguard investigation
• Final findings were issued in 23 anti-dumping investigations & 4 safeguard investigations and preliminary findings were issued in 11 investigations during this period

5. Adoption of Technical Regulations (TRs) and QCO’s

• Technical Regulations formulated for 176 product lines (worth $ 49.9 Billion) & TRs for 371 products in progress

• 71 HSN Codes have been identified by the DoC based on import. Out of these, QCOs notified for 22; 13 are under consideration; on the remaining HSN codes QCO not feasible

6. Procurement reimagined with Government e-Marketplace (GeM)

• Promoting transparent public procurement while giving a fair opportunity and level playing field to vendors

• Total transaction value on GeM portal has crossed Rs. 74,552 Crore as on 30th December 2020. There are 17.6 lakh listed products, 9 lakh sellers and service providers and 11,543 product categories on GeM

7. Special Economic Zone

• Insertion of Rule 53A in the SEZ Rules 2006 amendment dated 31.12.2019: The amendment shall provide an exemption to units located in an International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) from complying with the “Net Foreign Exchange Earnings” (NFE) condition prescribed in Rule 53 of the SEZ Rules
• Amendment in Rule 24(3) of SEZ Rules dated 23.10.2020:  For drawbacks and other benefits under the Customs & Central Excise Duties Drawback Rules, 2017, a provision has been incorporated stipulating that in case of supplies from DTA to foreign suppliers in FTWZ, the same shall be admissible where payments are made in foreign currency by the foreign supplier to DTA

• Covid specific compliance measures/initiatives:

• Development Commissioners were directed to facilitate all extensions of Letter of Approvals (LoAs)/Letter of Permission (LOP) for SEZ/EOUs and other compliances through electronic mode in a time‐bound manner
• Power was delegated to Development Commissioners for broad-banding in case of manufacturing of essential items like masks, sanitizer, gowns and other protective preventive products/instruments subject to post-facto ratification by UAC

8. Fast track mechanism for trade remedy

• The e-filing facility for anti-dumping investigations has been formally launched to facilitate filing of petitions by the Domestic industry
• Amendment in AD, CVD, SG Rules have been notified on 02.20.2020

• Online portal titled ARTIS (Application for Remedies in Trade for Indian industry and other Stakeholders) has been developed to facilitate online filing of applications for trade remedies. 31 applications filed through ARTIS
  • Helpdesk has been operationalized in DGTR since September 2019 to assist the domestic industry, especially the MSME sector

• • Average time taken to initiate an anti-dumping investigation has been brought down from 43 days in 2018-19 to 33 days in 2019-20 and average time for completing an investigation has been brought down to 234 days in 2019-20, from 281 days during 2018-19 and more than 400 days in previous years

9. Enhanced capacity of Export Credit, Insurance and MAI assistance

• Capital infusion in ECGC of Rs. 390 Crore made during the current financial
• Assistance of Rs 122.42 Crore has been provided under Market Access Initiatives

• During Jan-Nov 2020, ECGC has supported exports of Rs 449.531 Crore, earned Rs 899 Crore in premium, added 14050 buyers, issued 8449 policies and settled claims of Rs 646.72 Crore

• Under National Export Insurance Account during January-November 2020, value of exports supported was Rs 1680.17 Crore and insurance cover worth Rs 1803.15 Crore was issued

10. Bilateral trade promotion

• European Union: 15^th India-EU Summit represented by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and President of European Commission was held virtually on 15.7.2020. In this summit, the leaders adopted “India-EU Strategic Partnership: A Roadmap to 2025” to guide cooperation between India and the EU over the next five years
• Indonesia:A Bilateral meeting between Hon’ble CIM and Indonesian Trade Minister was held on 20.02.2020 in New Delhi wherein Market access issues faced by India in auto sector, agriculture sector (quota issue in bovine meat, pending approval of dairy plants, import restriction on chilies, discriminatory tariff issue on rice, International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis (ICUMSA) level of Sugar), pharmaceuticals, textiles etc. were discussed in detail
• Mauritius: India-Mauritius Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement CECPA negotiations for trade in goods and trade in services, have been completed. The Agreement is near finalization
• US:COVID-19 has led to increased trade and cooperation between India and US with India making gestures such as relaxation of export restrictions on 24 APIs and hydroxychloroquine.Three USA companies are currently engaged with their Indian counterparts for mass production of COVID-19 vaccines in India
• Kuwait: A Virtual meeting between Hon’ble CIM and His Excellency Mr. Khalid Naser Al Roudan, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Kuwait heldon 21^stJuly 2020 wherein after extensive consultation with the stakeholders (Line Ministries and EPCs), the Rules of Origin /Product Specific Rules under the India-Mauritius CECPA has been revised to make it more stringent to contain possible circumvention
• UK:The 14th meeting of the India-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) was organized on 24th July, 2020, wherein both sides committed to an Enhanced Trade Partnership as part of a roadmap that could lead to a future FTA and agreed to cooperation in many other issues of commonality like Food & Drink sector, Data issuesetc.
• West Africa: The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) organized virtually the “India-West Africa Summit and Buyer Sellers Meet 2020” from 19th to 20th November 2020. The meet primarily focused on sectors like, Agriculture & Food Processing,Healthcare & Pharma, Energy Infrastructure, ICT & Telecommunications, Apparel, etc.
• Oman: 9^th Session of India-Oman Joint Commission Meeting was held on 19^th October, 2020. Both sides reviewed the progress of prospective Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) in the field of mining, standards & metrology, financial intelligence, cultural exchange, and information technology, and agreed to conclude them expeditiously.

11. Multilateral trade initiatives/events

• BRICS: Under the presidency of Russia, 3 meetings of CGETI (23rd, 24^th& 25^th) were held in February, April and July, 2020. While the 23^rd Meeting was held physically in Moscow on 26-28 February, 2020; the 24^th and the 25^th Meeting were held virtually because of Covid-19 pandemic. The Commerce and Industry Minister led the Indian delegation for the 10^th BRICS Trade Ministers’ meeting held virtually on 23^rd July, 2020
• Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO): India is the Chair of Council of Heads of Government during the year 2020. India held meetings of the Ministers responsible for Foreign Economic and Foreign Trade Activities of the SCO Member States virtually on 28^th October, 2020 under the leadership of Hon’ble Commerce and Industry Minister.

12. Strengthening trade related infrastructure and Logistics

• India improved its ranking from 77 in 2019 to 63 in 2020 in the Ease of Doing Business Report of the World Bank
• Improved Port Community System 1x (PCS 1x) was introduced in all major ports
• 100% of all EXIM cargo can now be tracked and traced through RFID tagging of containers
• “Turant customs” has been implemented to make customs clearance a face-less exercise
• Mobile X-Ray scanners are being installed at major ports
• Mandatory electronic toll collection system (FASTag) for reducing time loss at time toll plaza
• Till date, total 40 projects have been approved under the Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES), out of which 8 projects have been completed

13. Implementation of Agriculture Export Policy for promotion of agriculture export

• The Government has taken several steps to implement the Agriculture Export Policy (AEP). 16 States have finalized the State specific Action Plans. State Level Monitoring committee has been formed in 20 States and 1 UT. Cluster Level Committees have been formed in 23 of the 47 product-district clusters identified under the AEP
• 10 top products and 20 potential products from the agriculture sector identified for exports
• APEDA has also engaged with 60 Indian missions for preparing country-wise agri-export strategy. The opportunities thus analyzed have been shared with trade bodies and exporters
• Farmer Connect Portal has been launched for providing a platform for FPOs, Cooperatives to interact with exporters and till date 2340 FPO/FPCs & 1830 exporters have been registered
• Export of fresh vegetables and mangoes from Varanasi and black Rice from Chandauli has taken place for the first time. Exports have also taken place from other clusters viz. oranges from Nagpur, bananas from Theni and Anantpur, mango from Lucknow etc
• The export of essential commodities has registered substantial growth, with export of non-basmati rice increasing by 105.20%, sugar by 60.75%, wheat by 356.86%, vegetable oils by 216.11%, pulses by 27.33% and other cereals by 154.68% during the period from April to November 2020 as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

14. Plantation Sector

• Rubber: A new high yielding and cold resistant clone exclusively for North East, has been developed by Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII) in February 2020. A new Rubber Products Incubation Centre was commissioned in June 2020 at RRRI
• Spices: Projects launched by Spice Board during 2020 are: National Sustainable Spice Programme in association with World Spice Organization; Global Environmental Fund Project in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh;Doubling of exports of spices in line with Agriculture Export Policy and increasing farmers income by INDGAP Certification in collaboration with QCI
• Tea: Alternative e-commerce auction platform (m-junction) has been set up in Jorhat district of Assam toprovide value added services like central warehousing & logistics. The average tea auction prices for 2020-21 (Apr-Nov) stands at Rs. 215.90 per Kg, an improvement of Rs.69.97 per Kg (47.95%) compared to corresponding period last year which helped the Small Tea Growers in realising higher price of green leaves
• Coffee: Coffee Board has established an Atal Incubation Centre - Central Coffee Research Institute – Centre for Development under Atal Innovation Mission of NITI Aayog.

15. Sector Specific

• Leather: Despite COVID 19 Pandemic, the leather, leather products and footwear industry achieved 63.5% of export performance in dollar terms, during April – November 2020 viz-a-viz  April – November 2019. Due to revision in definition of MSMEs about 98% of the units in the leather, leather products and footwear sector came under MSME (92% earlier). Revised finished leather norms were notified to facilitate export of new types of leathers having huge demand in the global market and export of finished leathers

• Chemicals and Petrochemicals: During the period from April to November 2020; several Product Groups/Panels have recorded significant positive growth in exports, namely, Bulk minerals and Ores (30%), Ossein & Gelatin (10%), Human Hair  Products (16.3%), Essential Oils (8.9%), Plant and Plant portion (25%), Fixed Vegetables, Oil cake & others (12%), Shellac and Lac Based Products (253%)
• Textiles: In a span of a few months, India became the secondlargest manufacturer of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits in the world. Keeping in view the growing production of PPE and masks in the country and ever-increasing global demand for the same, export of PPE medical coveralls and masks was allowed

• Gems and Jewellery: To provide relief to gems and jewellery exporters due to Covid-19 pandemic, issues faced by exporters were taken up with concerned authorities, viz. DGFT, RBI and Ministry of Finance for timely resolution. RBI extended the realization period of exports proceed from 9 months to 15 months for exports made upto 31st Jul 2020.
• Engineering: Steel at export parity price: To address the issue of rising steel prices for Engineering MSMEs, DoC& Ministry of Steel held discussions with Engineering Exports Promotion Council (EEPC) India and the Steel Producers to supply steel to MSME members of EEPC at export parity price. The Standard Operating Procedure in this regard was issued.

16. India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO)

• In keeping up with the needs and requirements of modern exhibition and convention industry, ITPO has undertaken a mega project of redevelopment of Pragati Maidan into a world-class iconic International Exhibition and Convention Centre (IECC) which will be a unique symbol of New India and help improve the nation’s image in terms of world class modern MICE infrastructure. The project is targeted to be completed by October, 2021(except Hall A6 which may go up to March 2022).

A booklet on the achievements of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is available at https://dipp.gov.in/whats-new/achievements-ministry-commerce-and-industry.

*****

YB/AP