Piyush Goyal looks to revamp commerce department to up exports

NEW DELHI:

Commerce

and industry minister Piyush Goyal has laid out his agenda to revamp the ministry, which is expected to extend to DGFT that, for decades, was responsible for licensing but has seen its role curtailed in recent years.


Similarly, the focus of the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) may also be expanded to channelising domestic investment, instead of focusing largely on

FDI

, given that Indian companies are scouting for opportunities abroad.

During his consultations with officials, Goyal has made it clear that the commerce department cannot work in silos with divisions focusing on regions such as North America and Europe. Besides, the minister believes that there is little focus on ways to check imports or look at ways to tap the opportunities that, say, the

US-China trade war

may throw up, officials told TOI.

Many in the government believe that domestic manufacturing cannot be given a boost without checking imports. The commerce department set up has remained largely unchanged from its pre-liberalisation era functioning.

Similarly, the moribund DGFT, which issued licences to control imports, is seen to have abundant manpower as technology has now made things simpler for exporters and importers. Goyal has suggested that some of this could be deployed in fields such as the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) through which goods and services are procured by the Centre and other agencies.

A few years ago, a report on restructuring the commerce department was also prepared but the bureaucracy, which preferred a status quo, put it on the backburner. “We need to see if we should set up global trade facilitation centres and things like that,” said a source. Goyal has called a meeting of state industry ministers and also industry and agriculture secretaries on Thursday, along with trade and industry bodies, to brainstorm on stepping up exports and domestic manufacturing.