GST, export target delay foreign trade policy review release

The commerce and industry ministry on Thursday said it will release the reviewed foreign trade policy ( FTP) in September and not before the Goods and Services Tax ( GST) rollout as was being planned.

Government had earlier announced to release the mid-term review of FTP in line with the GST rollout before July 1.

"A number of representations have been received from exporters regarding GST. Accordingly, it has been decided to release the reviewed FTP in September. This will allow the government to factor in the exporters' feedback on relevant issues post GST," the ministry said in a statement.

Officials said the ministry is yet to revise the earlier export target of $900 billion by 2020 and is also contemplating the likely impact of GST on exporters.

In 2016-17, India's shipments aggregated at around $426 billion.

The review is aimed at taking corrective steps by assessing the impact of export sops on various sectors. Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier said the FTP review would focus on propelling SMEs, which generate jobs, and also look at the possibility of enhancing the scope of rupee trade by getting into currency swap mechanism with the South-East Asian countries.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations has pegged India's exports to reach $700-725 billion by 2020.