: The districts as export hubs scheme will be part of the new five-year foreign trade policy (FTP), which is likely to be released before September. The district scheme is also aimed at job creation, a commerce ministry official said.

The directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT), the commerce ministry’s arm which is formulating the policy, will soon send the proposal to the finance ministry for seeking funds for the scheme. Under the scheme, the aim is to initially focus on 50 districts, which have products that are scalable and hold huge export potential, the official said. The DGFT would follow a “challenge route” method to select these districts; the official said adding states and districts that want to avail the financial incentives under the scheme should compete for that. There are 750 districts in the country.

“It will be a kind of competition among states and districts. We will come out with detailed guidelines for that. The scheme will find a place in the FTP. It will be a centrally sponsored scheme, where 60 per cent of the total cost will be borne by the Centre, and the remaining by states.

We are trying to release the new FTP before September,” the official added. According to a document of the commerce ministry, states need to be engaged actively in the export promotion activities as exports cannot be exponentially increased without their active involvement.

Districts as export hubs scheme aims to target export promotion, manufacturing and employment generation at the grassroot level. The current foreign trade policy (2015- 20) is in force till September 2022. On March 31, 2020, the government extended this policy for one year till March 31, 2021 due to the Covid-19 outbreak. It was again extended till September. In the policy, the government announces support measures for both goods and services exporters.