Over the past month, India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry has proactively introduced several measures to make doing business easier for local enterprises. Simultaneously, it has fortified domestic industries against unfair trade practices by initiating anti-dumping investigations across at least 15 different product categories.
Despite these immediate changes, a significant ‘Export Promotion Mission,’ initially unveiled in Budget 2025, is still awaiting final approval. Ministry officials are optimistic that substantial progress on this mission will be made within the coming month.
A senior official from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, speaking anonymously, confirmed important clarifications: services exchanged between different Special Economic Zones (SEZs), and between an SEZ unit and businesses elsewhere in India, are now exempt from Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) regulations.
Furthermore, SEZ-based businesses can now submit their annual performance reports by December 31st, aligning their deadlines with those for other financial reports and returns required under Income Tax and GST laws.
Additional relaxations concern how exporters declare incoming payments.
Following persistent advocacy by the Department of Commerce, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given exporters and importers the green light to self-declare payments for transactions valued up to ₹10 lakh. This means banks can now finalize their Export Data Processing and Monitoring System (EDPMS) and Import Data Processing and Monitoring System (IDPMS) entries without requiring manual review or imposing penalties, streamlining the process significantly.
To further reduce delays, reconciliation burdens, transaction costs, and time spent by Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), consolidated quarterly declarations are now also permissible.
On the protective front, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has successfully concluded anti-dumping investigations across 15 diverse product categories. These include critical items such as glass fibres, cold-rolled steel, specific antioxidants, solar cells, and soda ash.
The investigations focused on imports from a wide range of countries, including China, Bahrain, Thailand, Russia, Singapore, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Chile, the U.S., Turkey, Iran, Vietnam, South Korea, and the European Union.
These decisive actions are crucial for safeguarding India’s domestic industries from the adverse effects of artificially low-priced imports caused by dumping.