New Delhi, July 26 (IANS): The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has announced significant enhancements to the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) Scheme aimed at simplifying processes, reducing transaction costs, and promoting automation to benefit exporters.

The scheme has been tweaked to provide exporters an extended period to submit Installation Certificates for imported Capital Goods.

This extension reduces pressure on businesses, allowing them to focus more on production and export activities. Further, a simplified and reduced composition fee structure for extending the Export Obligation (EO) period has been introduced. This change minimises manual intervention, streamlines compliance and speeds up service delivery.

Also, from now all Policy Relaxation Committee (PRC) decisions regarding Export Obligation extensions and regularisation of exports will be implemented with a levy of a uniform composition fee making it easier to implement through the system.

"These updates make it easier for exporters to comply with regulations, reducing the time and effort required to meet DGFT requirements. By expanding automated rule-based processes, DGFT aims to reduce human intervention, mitigate risks and improve overall efficiency in trade facilitation," the Commerce Ministry said on Friday.

"These changes align with the commitment of the government to create a more business-friendly environment and improve India’s manufacturing competitiveness," an official statement said.

Since the announcement of the new Foreign Trade Policy in April 2023, DGFT has been actively modernising its systems to expand automated rule-based processes. These initiatives are crucial steps towards fostering a more business-friendly environment and enhancing India’s competitiveness in the global market, the statement added.