With a ₹250.6 billion outlay, India’s new Export Promotion Mission aims to simplify trade schemes and enhance export competitiveness across key sectors.
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the Export Promotion Mission (EPM), a new initiative aimed at improving India’s export competitiveness, particularly for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), first-time exporters, and labour-intensive sectors.
Support under the Mission will be prioritised for sectors affected by recent global tariff changes.
Announced in the Union Budget 2025–26, the Mission has a total outlay of ₹250.6 billion and will be implemented over a six-year period, from FY 2025–26 to FY 2030–31. It aims to replace multiple existing export promotion schemes with a single, integrated framework that focuses on measurable outcomes and digital implementation.
The EPM will be jointly implemented by the Department of Commerce, the Ministry of MSME, the Ministry of Finance, and other stakeholders, including Export Promotion Councils, Commodity Boards, industry associations, financial institutions, and state governments.
According to the government, the Mission will function through two sub-schemes: Niryat Protsahan and Niryat Disha. The first one will focus on improving MSMEs’ access to trade finance through mechanisms such as interest subvention, export factoring, collateral guarantees, and credit cards for e-commerce exporters.
Niryat Disha, subsequently, will focus on non-financial areas such as compliance support, branding and packaging, participation in trade fairs, warehousing and logistics support, and capacity-building initiatives.
The EPM will consolidate existing programmes, including the Interest Equalisation Scheme (IES) and the Market Access Initiative (MAI), under a single structure aligned with current trade priorities.
The government clarified that it has been designed to address key challenges faced by exporters, such as limited access to affordable finance, high compliance costs, and logistical constraints, especially in smaller or low-export districts.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) will act as the implementing agency, managing all applications and fund disbursals through a dedicated digital platform integrated with existing trade systems.
