The Directorate General of Foreign Trade will realign itself along the lines of Prime Minister’s Make in India and will push for production of items domestically to cut down imports. The organisation is “focusing on creating more capacities within the country to produce items that can cut down imports and accelerate exports from the electronics and hardware sector, including ventilators,” Director General Amit Yadav said at an event organized by Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) on Wednesday. He also said that the government-run agency is also taking suggestions from the industry and others as to the areas which promise new capacities to reduce import and accelerate exports.
Since the coronavirus pandemic has hit globally, the world as well as India is facing a shortage of ventilators. The agency under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry hence said that its focus will be on ramping up the production of ventilators and exporting them. Other items in electronics and hardware segments in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors are also on the government radar.
DGFT overhaul to increase ease of doing business
Stating that DGFT is in an overhaul mode, Amit Yadav said that the agency expects to finish the realigning work by the end of this year. Further, the work undertaken by the agency in the meantime will address changes required to ensure ease of doing business and removing trade barriers. “Our efforts are to promote ease of doing business and give exporters all possible help through application of technology,” Amit Yadav said. The agency has also said that there is a need to build an electronic component sector which will help in developing strong backward and forward linkages.
Meanwhile, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has said that it will appoint an agency to scrutinise government tenders for compliance with procurement norms as the government pushes for Made in India products. The government had floated a Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017 on 15 June, 2017, in order to promote the domestic production of goods and services and enhance income and employment in the country.
