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Informist, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026

NEW DELHI – Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal Tuesday proposed a network of around 1,000 trained local personnel, with knowledge of regional languages, to support exporters and prospective exporters at the district and state levels, the commerce ministry said in a press release. These personnel would be trained and subsequently deployed to provide handholding support to businesses, including through industry chambers and regional associations, he said while addressing an industry stakeholders' meeting on ease of doing business and free trade agreement opportunities here. 
 

Goyal stated that rather than establishing separate offices of every department in every location, integrated commerce and industry offices are envisaged in major cities to provide businesses with a common point of access to multiple departments and agencies. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade organised the stakeholder workshop, with Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada also in attendance.

Goyal also apprised industry members about the 'Trade Connect' platform being developed by the ministry to provide exporters with product-wise and HSN-code-wise information, including destination-country tariffs, FTA opportunities and procedures for availing FTA benefits. The platform is also envisaged to use digital and artificial intelligence-enabled tools to help businesses identify potential export opportunities and infrastructure gaps, he said.

Meanwhile, industry representatives flagged the need for greater interoperability between government systems and foreign trade platforms, including digital transmission and verification of Certificates of Origin under FTAs. Industry participants also called for the need for further integration of the export cycle involving the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, customs, banks and other stakeholders.

Industry members also pointed out logistics and trade-process bottlenecks, including documentation backlogs and concerns relating to sea-freight costs. "Sector-specific issues relating to rules of origin and imports, export quality and regulatory processes, import competition, testing and certification infrastructure, and regulatory certainty for MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) were also raised," it said.

Further, representatives from sectors like pharmaceuticals, textiles, man-made fibres, copper, automotive and engineering, air-conditioners and logistics, along with MSMEs and women entrepreneurs, flagged issues relating to export competitiveness, trade documentation, regulatory processes, FTA utilisation, logistics, domestic supply chains, standards and testing infrastructure and regulatory certainty.

The roller chain and industrial components manufacturing sector brought to attention the positive impact of recent policy interventions in boosting domestic manufacturing, highlighting measures including Quality Control Orders, Minimum Import Price provisions and higher import duties. These measures have contributed to a 15-fold expansion, fresh investments of approximately INR 5 billion and the generation of around 5,000 new jobs. "The industry appreciated these interventions for supporting domestic manufacturing capacity, encouraging investment and creating employment opportunities," the ministry said.

Further, industry associations and Export Promotion Councils were encouraged to support awareness and compliance with destination-market standards and assist in identifying instances of fraudulent, substandard or non-compliant manufacturing for appropriate regulatory action, it said.  End

Reported by Pratiksha

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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