Around 20,000 exporters to be recognised as ‘Status Holders’ under FTP 2023

Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Monday launched a new initiative for issuing IT-based automatic ‘Status Holder’ certificates to exporters under the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023.

Now the exporter will not be required to apply to the office of Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) for a status certificate as the export recognition will be provided by the IT system, based on available Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) merchandise export electronic data and other risk parameters.

At present, an exporter is required to file an online application along with an export certificate from a Chartered Accountant for grant of Status.

The DGFT Regional Offices, as per the laid down timelines are supposed to issue the certificate in three days.

The new arrangement will lead to a simplified regime where no applications are invited from exporters and the certification is granted every year in August based on annual export figures available with the DGCIS.

With the launch of this new system, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry will be recognising about 20,000 exporters under FTP 2023 as Status Holders which will be a quantum jump from the earlier number of 12,518 exporters, according to an official statement.

The biggest increase in Status certification is seen in the 1 Star category, which is the lowest category, and requires an export performance of at least$ three million in the last three preceding financial years plus three months of the current financial year.

This will enable the government to handhold a larger number of small exporting entities and create a vibrant export ecosystem and help reach our export target of $ two trillion by 2030.