Exporters seek end-to-end digitisation of FTA trade process

Exporters have urged the Commerce Ministry to develop an end-to-end digital system for processing exports under free trade agreements (FTAs), citing delays caused by fragmented systems and repeated verification.

They have called for better coordination between the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), customs and banks, saying the existing processes delay shipments and lock up working capital, according to sources aware of the matter.

During a workshop on Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) initiatives and FTA opportunities on Tuesday, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and ministry officials interacted with industry stakeholders. Exporters flagged challenges in shipments to FTA partner countries and called for customs, DGFT and banking processes to be integrated into a single digital platform to reduce manual intervention and improve ease of doing business.

Another key concern raised by exporters was the verification of Certificates of Origin (CoO), with industry stakeholders pointing to the need for faster, more reliable digital verification mechanisms to avoid delays at destination customs authorities.

The government has separately been developing the Trade Connect platform to strengthen export facilitation, expected to provide product-wise and HSN-code-wise information on destination-country tariffs, FTA opportunities and procedures for securing benefits under trade agreements, alongside digital and AI tools to help identify export opportunities and infrastructure gaps. Industry representatives at the workshop also raised issues linked to export competitiveness, documentation, regulations, FTA utilisation, logistics and supply chains, along with standards, testing requirements and the need for greater regulatory certainty, and proposed extending digital transmission and verification of Certificates of Origin to other trade partners beyond current arrangements.