The move comes in the context of an expected slowdown in shipments to the US due to high tariffs. In July, exports to the US rose 20% as exporters hurried to circumvent the 25% tariff that became effective on August 2 .
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“In these 50 countries out of the total 193 countries, export potential is high. We will be as a strategy focussing on export promotion in these markets,” the official added.
Expanding Focus Beyond Traditional Markets
The new markets that make it to the list of 30 include Kenya, Spain, South Africa, Mexico, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Thailand, Belgium, Israel, Nigeria, Mozambique, Iraq, Poland, Philippines, Togo, Italy and Nepal.
Giving an example of market and export diversification, the official said that Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA) has successfully facilitated exports of 15 new products into 28 new markets in April-July. “We feel this strategy is working and would be accelerated,” he said.
For initiating export promotion efforts in the new identified markets, the missions in these countries will also be mobilised to undertake proactive and sustained export promotion activities, another official added.
Policy Push: FTAs, Digital Trade and Export Promotion Mission
While exploring new markets the emphasis will continue on the 20 top importers from India, including the US, UAE, Netherlands, China, Bangladesh, Singapore, the UK , Saudi Arabia and Germany. These are among the top 10 markets. The next 10 on the list include Brazil, Italy, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkiye, and Vietnam.
Among the 40 countries that are among the 50 focus markets, exports to 26 of them grew in April-July as compared to last year and touched $ 91.5 billion. The other 14 markets recorded a negative growth and accounted for $ 37.6 billion exports in the first four months of this financial year.
While diversification of products and markets for exports has always been government policy, it has acquired more urgency due to the uncertain global trade environment.
In this environment the other focus areas for the government are speeding up negotiations on the free trade agreements and earlier implementation of ones that have already been signed with the UK and the four-nation European Free Trade Association (EFTA).
While the UK FTA implementation may be some months away, the FTA with four nation EFTA that includes Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland will be operational from October 1. Another focus is increasing the utilisation of trade agreements that are already operational by the exporters.
The government is also planning to take the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) forward by streamlining trade facilitation through digital platforms.
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Another major pillar for supporting exports will be the Export Promotion Mission (EPM) that could be announced in the coming weeks. EPM will focus on export promotion efforts for six years – from 2025 to 2031.
The EPM will be implemented through two sub-schemes. One scheme will be focussing on export credit, factoring, credit insurance, address collateral requirement for finance and other mechanisms to bridge liquidity gaps. Other leg of the scheme will be support for quality compliance, market development , branding, export warehousing, logistics and capacity building to integrate more Indian enterprises into global value chains.