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The Ministry of Commerce on Friday introduced seven additional interventions under the Export Promotion Mission which is meant to strengthen micro, medium and small enterprises (MSMEs) to compete in global markets.
According to a statement from the ministry, the interventions would seek to “address structural constraints faced by MSMEs, including high cost of capital, limited access to diversified trade finance instruments, compliance burdens in international markets, logistics disadvantages, and barriers to market entry”.
Among the new set of interventions announced on Friday, this would seek to enable exporters to access new markets or those with higher element of risk through varied risk-sharing mechanisms and credit instruments.
Additionally, seeking to provide credit assistance to e-commerce exporters, the provisions would offer structured credit facilities which would provide with interest subvention and partial credit guarantees.
Among them, the direct e-commerce credit facility – meant to provide working capital as an avenue for risk mitigation – would provide support up to ₹50 lakh with 90% guarantee coverage. Whilst the overseas inventory credit facility would extend support of up to ₹5 crore with 75% guarantee coverage. For both, an interest subvention of 2.75% would be available. This would be subject to entities not breaching the upper limit of ₹15 lakh per applicant in a year.
“These structured mechanisms aim to strengthen exporter confidence and liquidity flows,” the ministry explained.
Welcoming the move, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) emphasised that this would “significantly ease working capital pressures”. “Lower cost of finance and improved liquidity cycles will enable MSMEs to price competitively, accept larger orders and strengthen their credibility with overseas buyers. Shared-risk credit mechanisms are also expected to encourage first-time exporters and promote product and market diversification,” the industry body observed.
Finally, to support exporters institute warehouse overseas and fulfilment infrastructure, the latest interventions seek to provide assistance of up to 30% of approved project cost. This would be provided for a maximum of three years. Moreover, these would be subject to certain participation criteria and not breaching of the prescribed ceiling for such commitments.
Separately, while making the announcement, Union Minister of Commerce Piyush Goyal noted that India posted a double-digit growth in merchandise exports in the first fourteen days of February.
Furthermore, reflecting on the nine free trade agreements (FTAs) sealed by India in the recent past, and the government’s focus on expanding markets for Indian exporters, the Commerce Minister stated that nearly 70% of global GDP and two-thirds of global trade are now accessible. This also included the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement with the United States.
Published – February 20, 2026 02:08 pm IST
