Comm min expects to issue 20,000 status holder certificates to exporters this year: DGFT

New Delhi: The Commerce Ministry, which automated the process for issuance of exporter status certificates, is expected to issue about 20,000 such documents by the end of this year, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi said this would be a big jump in the issuance of these certificates, and so far, they have issued over 40,200 status-holder certificates. "There are another 2,000 applications, which are under scrutiny because of their prior history. But ultimately, those will also get issued, and by the end of this year, we expect about 20,000 status holders to be recognised through this automated process," he told reporters here. Last month, DGFT said that an exporter status certificate will now be issued based on the available electronic data, and traders will not have to apply to get the recognition.

These certificates provide certain privileges, including simplified procedures under foreign trade policy (FTP), priority custom clearances on a self-declaration basis, and exemption from compulsory negotiation of documents through banks and filing bank guarantees for FTP schemes. Upon achieving prescribed export performance, status recognition as one, two, three, four and five-star export houses is accorded to the eligible applicants as per their export performance. Sarangi said applications of exporters in the 'risk' category will be subjected to larger scrutiny.

Exporters who default in fulfilling their export obligations are categorised as "risky". Now, the exporters are not required to apply to the office of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) for a Status Certificate, and the export recognition will be provided by the IT system based on available Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) merchandise export electronic data and other risk parameters. Earlier, the exporters had to file an online application along with an export certificate from a chartered accountant for a grant of status. The DGFT Regional Offices are supposed to issue the certificate in three days. Under the new arrangement, no applications are invited from exporters, and the certification is granted every year in August based on annual export figures available with the partner government agency - DGCIS.

Exporters, who are eligible for a higher status based on additional export data relating to services export, deemed exports or double weightage to some entities like MSME, which is not getting captured in disaggregated form presently, can apply online for a status modification also at a later date. The biggest increase in status certification is seen in the 1 Star category, which is the lowest category and requires an export performance of at least USD 3 million in the last three preceding financial years plus the three months of the current financial year.