India’s share of world merchandise trade declined to 1.6% in 2015: WTO

India's percentage share in world merchandise trade declined from 1.7 per cent in 2011 to 1.6 per cent in 2015 while the country's share in global export of services increased from 3.2 per cent in 2011 to 3.3 per cent in  2015, data available with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) showed.

India's share in world merchandise and services exports increased from 1.9 per cent in 2011 to .2.0 per cent in 2015, says the WTO report.

In order to mitigate the situation and improve competitiveness of Indian goods and services in overseas markets, the government has launched several schemes and measures to increase.

The government has extended Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), introduced in the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-20 on 1 April 2015 with 4,914 tariff lines at 8 digit levels. It has also extended market coverage to all countries in respect of 7,914 tariff lines. The revenue forgone under the scheme (MEIS) has increased from Rs22000 crore to Rs23,500 crore per annum.

The Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS), introduced in the FTP 2015-2020, provides rewards to service providers of notified services who provide service from India.

The Niryat Bandhu Scheme introduced with an objective to reach out to the new and potential exporters, including exporters from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and mentor them through orientation programmes, counseling sessions, individual facilitation, etc, on various aspects of foreign trade for being able to get into international trade and boost exports from India. 

By way of trade facilitation and enhancing the ease of doing business, the government reduced the number of mandatory documents required for exports and imports to three each, which is comparable with international benchmarks. The trade community can file applications online for various trade related schemes. Online payment of application fees through credit/debit cards and electronic funds transfer from 53 banks has been put in place.

Interest equalization scheme on pre and post shipment credit launched to provide cheaper credit to exporters.

Further, the government continues to provide the facility of access to duty-free raw materials and capital goods for exports through schemes like Advance Authorization, Duty Free Import Authorization (DFIA), Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) and drawback / refund of duties.