Piyush Goyal likely to chair Board of Trade meeting next month

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal is likely to chair a meeting of the Board of Trade next month to discuss ways to boost the country's exports, an official said.

The Board is an advisory body on the foreign trade policy.

It is headed by the minister and includes participants from states, Union Territories, and senior officials from public and private sectors, and provides a platform to discuss ways on boosting manufacturing and exports.

The board may meet sometime in mid-September, the official said.

Last month, the government nominated 29 non-official members from different sectors, including large and small enterprises, to the Board.

The new members include Laghu Udyog Bharati executive member Om Prakash Mittal, India Cellular and Electronics Association chairman Pankaj Mahindroo and Amul MD RS Sodhi.

Discussions in the meeting are expected to focus on the new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP 2022-27), ways to take forward domestic manufacturing and exports.

The platform provides an opportunity to have regular discussion and consultation with trade and industry and advise the government on policy measures related to FTP in order to achieve the objective of boosting India's trade.

It also provides a platform to state governments and UTs to articulate their perspective on trade policy, and also to Government of India for apprising them about international developments affecting India's trade potential and opportunities and to prepare them to deal with the evolving situation.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations vice-president Khalid Khan said the Board should discuss a circular of the RBI issued last month on measures for international trade settlement in rupees.

In that, the Reserve Bank asked banks to put in place additional arrangements for export and import transactions in the Indian rupee in view of the increasing interest of the global trading community in the domestic currency.

Some kind of standard operating procedure should be released for banks on this, Khan said.

India's exports rose 2.14 per cent to USD 36.27 billion in July while the trade deficit almost tripled to USD 30 billion during the month due to over 70 per cent rise in crude oil imports.

However, exports during April-July 2022-23 rose by 20.13 per cent to USD 157.44 billion. Imports during the four months increased by 48.12 per cent to USD 256.43 billion. The trade deficit stood at USD 98.99 billion as against USD 42 billion during April-July 2021-22.