By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday called for strengthening export facilitation through physical and digital mechanisms, including a proposed network of around 1,000 trained local personnel to support exporters at the district and state levels and the Trade Connect platform to provide product-wise and HSN-code-wise information on tariffs, Free Trade Agreement (FTA) opportunities and procedures for availing FTA benefits.
Goyal made the remarks during a stakeholder workshop on Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), FTA opportunities and ongoing trade-related reforms organised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) at Bharat Mandapam here. Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada also participated in the interactive session with industry representatives.
Goyal said integrated Commerce and Industry offices were being envisaged in major cities to provide businesses with a common point of access to multiple departments and agencies, instead of establishing separate offices of different departments at every location. He also directed officials to examine suggestions raised by industry representatives.
The proposed network of local personnel, who would be trained in regional languages, is intended to provide handholding support to exporters and prospective exporters through industry chambers and regional associations.
The minister said the Trade Connect platform would offer exporters information on destination-country tariffs, FTA opportunities and procedures for availing benefits under trade agreements. It is also envisaged to use digital and AI-enabled tools to help businesses identify potential export opportunities and infrastructure gaps.
The roller chain and industrial components manufacturing sector highlighted the impact of recent policy interventions, including Quality Control Orders, Minimum Import Price provisions and higher import duties. Industry representatives said these measures had contributed to a 15-fold expansion of the sector, around ₹500 crore in fresh investments and approximately 5,000 new jobs.
Representatives from pharmaceuticals, textiles, man-made fibres, copper, automotive and engineering, air-conditioners and logistics, besides MSMEs and women entrepreneurs, raised issues concerning export competitiveness, documentation, regulatory processes, FTA utilisation, logistics, domestic supply chains, standards and testing infrastructure.
Industry called for greater interoperability between government systems and foreign trade platforms, including electronic transmission and verification of Certificates of Origin under FTAs. The need for greater integration of the export cycle involving the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Customs, banks and other stakeholders was also highlighted.
Other concerns included documentation backlogs, sea-freight costs, rules of origin, import competition, export quality, testing and certification infrastructure and regulatory certainty for MSMEs.
DPIIT officials presented initiatives covering Startup India, intellectual property rights, investment facilitation, the National Single Window System, industrial infrastructure and reforms relating to the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation.
The workshop brought together industry associations, trade bodies and sectoral organisations and focused on reducing regulatory and procedural barriers, strengthening domestic manufacturing and supply chains, and enabling Indian enterprises to make greater use of opportunities arising from the country’s expanding FTA network.