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The commerce ministry is likely to release the new five-year foreign trade policy (FTP) on September 29, 2022 with a view to promoting the country's outbound shipments. The current foreign trade policy (2015-20) is in force till September 30, 2022.

On March 31, 2020, the government extended this policy for one year till March 31, 2021, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. It was again extended till the end of September this year. In the policy, the government announces support measures for both goods and services exporters. Districts as an Export Hubs scheme are expected to be part of that document.

Under the scheme, the aim is to initially focus on a certain number of districts which have products that are scalable and hold huge export potential. The country's exports rose by 17.68 per cent to $ 193.51 billion, while imports grew by 45.74 per cent to $318 billion during the April-August period this fiscal. The trade deficit has widened to $ 124.52 billion from $ 53.78 billion in April-August 2021.