The government in India has announced the new Foreign Trade Policy for 2013-14 aimed at promoting exports from the country to the global market.

Estimates showed that the total exports form the country fell 1.76 per cent to $300.57 billion in 2012-13 financial year compared to $304 billion in the previous year. In an effort to offer incentives to exporters to boost trade, the government has extended the zero duty Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme under the policy. The scheme allows duty free import of capital goods to all sectors.

The government has also widened the interest subvention scheme for the engineering and textiles sector, allowed the use of duty credit scrip beyond duty free imports, and has permitted the transferability of status holder incentive scheme under the newly announced Foreign Trade Policy for 2013-14.

"We have announced this policy after extensive consultation with industry and exporters. We will carry out a review in the month of October and announce more measures if required," Commerce & Industry Minister Anand Sharma said.

The government will also allow more operational flexibility to Special Economic Zones (SEZs) by reducing the requirement by half for all SEZs. The government has also scrapped the regulation relating to the minimum area requirement for IT SEZs.