A six-member committee will examine claims, unused funds and barriers to exporter participation as maritime disruption keeps pressure on trade costs.
India’s Commerce Ministry has set up a six-member sub-committee to examine how the Relief and Logistics Intervention for Export Facilitation scheme is working and to push for better use of the money set aside for it. According to a trade notice issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade on 30 October, the panel has been formed with immediate effect under the Export Promotion Mission and will look at ways to improve both fund deployment and exporter participation.
The committee will review all three parts of the RELIEF programme, including the number of claims already processed and the funds still available with the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India. The DGFT notice says the panel will assess the factors holding back uptake of the scheme and the pace at which approved funds are being used, then recommend steps to address both. Its findings will go to the Export Promotion Mission Steering Committee for further review and decisions.
The panel will be jointly chaired by the Additional Director General of Foreign Trade from the DGFT’s Logistics Division and the Additional Director General of Foreign Trade from its Export Promotion Mission Division. It will also include officials from the Department of Commerce, the ECGC and the Department of Financial Services, while a Joint DGFT from the Export Promotion Mission section will act as convenor, according to the reproduced trade notice.
The review comes days after the Commerce Department extended RELIEF Component II until 31 March 2027 as maritime disruptions tied to tensions in West Asia continue to affect shipping routes, insurance costs and freight charges. The official announcement said the component offers 95% risk cover through ECGC for eligible export shipments to specified regions. The broader RELIEF package was designed as a temporary response to those trade pressures and includes support for exporters with existing ECGC cover, assistance for future shipments and reimbursement support for eligible MSME exporters without that cover.
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