Budget 2022: The Commerce Department has requested the Finance Ministry to release more funds for its District S Export Hubs Initiative in the upcoming budget. People associated with this development said that gave a detailed presentation to the Finance Minister on the potential of this initiative, which is fast emerging as a big scheme of the department.
The government has focused on district level exports with an aim to enhance the impact of economic growth and diversify India’s export basket. The District’s Export Hubs Initiative of the Department in early 2020 has compiled products and services with export potential in all districts of the country.
A commerce department official told Moneycontrol, “We have been assured of adequate allocation in this regard. The entire government machinery recognizes the importance of channeling public funds to such special export areas rather than broad government support.”
Funds will come in District Export Action Plans
The official said most of the funds for the initiative could be allocated under other subheads of the commerce department’s budget. Most of the funds from the budget will go to District Export Action Plans (DEAPs), which form the core of the initiative.
Another official said, “With interest building up, we are planning to move on to the next phase of the programme. This includes more targeted initiatives and reforms in policy planning to reward the best performing districts and take them on the path of higher growth.”
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grassroots effort
The initiative seeks to target export promotion, manufacturing and job creation at the grassroots level. The scheme is based on DEAP, which identifies expandable, economically sustainable and sustainable export opportunities at the district level.
It also sets export targets. Even though the government has received DEAPs for more than 450 districts across the country, these are yet to be identified due to inability to collect data at the ground level and slow response from the states.
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journey ahead
Some states, such as West Bengal, have not even set up export promotion committees at the state level, while smaller states do not yet have a comprehensive state export policy.
The Director General of Foreign Trade is also developing a portal, which can be accessed on the website of DGFT, so that the states can upload information related to the export potential products of each district.
The initiative includes data on commodity and service exports at the district level through the GSTN and Indian Customs Electronic Gateway or ICEGATE Systems.
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