According to an official, the Commerce Ministry is working to release the new five-year foreign trade policy (FTP) by September this year, and the Districts as Export Hubs scheme would be included in that document, which aims to promote exports and job creation. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), the commerce ministry's arm in charge of policy formulation, will soon send the proposal to the finance ministry in order to seek funding for the scheme.
According to the official, the scheme's initial goal is to focus on 50 districts that have scalable products with high export potential. 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 Commerce Ministry document, states must actively participate in export promotion activities because exports cannot be exponentially increased without their active participation.