How Modi government plans to speed up India's exports
What's the story
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has reformed the norms committees under the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). The changes are aimed at expediting the disposal of Advance Authorization applications and simplifying processes for exporters. The ministry said in an official statement that this initiative is part of a larger effort by the government to improve business operations and reduce delays in approvals under export-linked schemes.
Scheme details
Understanding the schemes
The DGFT administers two key schemes - the Advance Authorisation (AA) scheme and the Duty-Free Import Authorisation (DFIA) scheme. These initiatives, under the Foreign Trade Policy, allow for the duty-free import of inputs that are physically incorporated into export products. Currently, seven such committees operate across sectors with technical experts and officials from various ministries.
Reform measures
Process and capacity related reforms introduced
The functioning of these committees had been hampered by capacity constraints, resulting in a backlog of applications. To tackle this issue, the government has introduced process and capacity-related reforms. These include regular meetings every two weeks, prioritizing long-pending cases, and timely finalization of meeting minutes. Monitoring mechanisms for pendency and case aging have also been strengthened as part of these reforms.
Committee enhancement
Technical members increased to handle higher volume of cases
In addition to the above measures, ministries have been asked to nominate more technical experts to these committees. This has increased the number of technical members from 12 to 22, enabling them to handle a higher volume of cases. A special disposal drive has also been launched for timely clearing of pending applications with transparency.
Impact assessment
Reforms already showing results
The ministry has said that these reforms have already started showing results. Between January 2026 and April 7, 2026, a total of 38 committee meetings were held, during which around 3,925 cases were reviewed and 1,770 cases disposed of. The reforms are expected to lower transaction costs and provide greater predictability for exporters especially small and medium enterprises.