Indian goods and services exports have crossed the USD 750 bn−mark for the first time amidst high inflation all around, high interest rates and headwinds buffeting the global economy − a sign of the robustness and resilience of the Indian economy. To further give a fillip to the sector, India recently announced its new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023 which emphasizes export promotion and development, moving away from an incentive regime to a regime which is facilitating, based on technology interface and principles of collaboration. FTP sets a target of USD 2 trillion−mark for Indian export by 2030.

Being the oldest Chamber of Commerce of the country, The Bengal Chamber took the initiative of disseminating information and knowledge amongst its stakeholders by organizing the ‘Aiding Export Workshop’ in partnership with Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC). To achieve this ambitious target, there is a need to encourage domestic large manufacturers and MSMEs to export and find new markets abroad. The workshop sought to help both new and existing exporters to do the following :

1. Identifying Market
2. Forex Hedging
3. Insurance and Credit Risk Management
4. Testing, Certification and other Compliances.

Mr. Sanjay Behera, Chairperson, Manufacturing and MSME Committee of The Bengal Chamber; Chief Sales Manager; Tata Steel Limited in his address gave a synopsis of the current export scenario and how India is well−poised to take advantage of the export opportunities.

The Chief Guest Shri Rajesh Pandey, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of MSME and Textiles, Government of West Bengal addressed the participants and apprised them about the opportunities for export in the Textile, IT, Pharma sectors amongst others and how the country can achieve the target of USD 2 trillion of exports by 2030.

One of the highlights of the workshop was the session by Dr. Jagat Shah, an international trainer who joined online from Canada. In his very practical presentation starting he elucidated the point that any product can be exported and also went on to show the participants the way to search on the internet for available export commodities, clients and countries.

Major export related institutions that took part in the programme including EEPC, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), MPEDA, Exim Bank, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC Limited), Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Canadian Standards Association (CSA), Vedaantic Organic Research Foundation.