Union Cabinet clears ₹25,060 crore Export Promotion Mission to address key tariff and non-tariff related export barriers

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved an Export Promotion Mission, with an outlay of ₹25,060 crore for a period of six years—between FY25-26 and FY30-31—with priority to support the sectors that are vulnerable and affected by the recent global tariff escalations, including textiles, leather, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, and marine products.

The mission will consolidate multiple schemes into a single mechanism, and consists of two sub-schemes: Niryat Protsahan and Niryat Disha. DGFT will implement these schemes through a dedicated digital platform. 

Under Niryat Protsahan, there will be a focus on the availability of credit and on reducing the cost of credit. There will be an interest subvention for pre- and post-shipment credit, providing affordable financing for MSME exports. Alternative trade instruments will also be part of the scheme to promote export factoring and deep-tier financing. “Learning from different nations on how to further the progress of exports has been implemented here,” said Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Railways, and Electronics and Information Technology, during the briefing.

A credit card for e-commerce exporters will also be launched to support e-commerce exports with alternative credit instruments. Collateral support for export credit will also be provided under Niryat Protsahan, which aims to bridge the existing collateral gap and enable smoother, more inclusive access to export credit. The scheme will also extend support for emerging export opportunities, enabling Indian MSMEs to expand into new or high-risk markets through credit enhancement.

Under Niryat Disha, the focus will be on countering non-tariff barriers encountered in exports to various nations. The scheme will provide support for export-quality and technical compliance, including testing, certification, and audits required to meet global standards.

The second pillar of this scheme is support for market access, which will facilitate MSME participation in international trade delegations, buyer-seller meets, reverse buyer-seller meets, and product demonstrations for both goods and services. To support the Just-in-Time inventory system, support will also be extended for export warehousing to improve export fulfilment and reduce logistics costs through shared infrastructure.

In hilly and remote terrains, such as that in the North East, support will be provided for inland transportation and handling. This will offset the higher logistics cost in low-export-intensity districts. There will also be support for export branding and packaging to enhance India’s export identity through unified branding, packaging, and specific campaigns.

While bigger exporters have access to digital market intelligence, smaller exporters do not. In order to address this gap, the scheme will also extend support for trade facilitation and intelligence, which will strengthen the institutional and digital capabilities of MSMEs, industry associations, clusters, and district-level bodies.