The Directorate General of Foreign Trade enhances the ‘Source from India’ service on the Trade Connect platform, allowing DPIIT-recognised startups to showcase products internationally and facilitate overseas trade.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade has widened access to its “Source from India” service on the Trade Connect e-platform, opening the buyer-discovery tool to eligible startups recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. According to the notice issued on August 6, the move is intended to give innovation-led businesses a larger international audience and make it easier for overseas purchasers to find Indian companies online.
Trade Connect, built by the Department of Commerce, is designed as a single digital gateway linking exporters with trade services and foreign buyers. The platform’s “Source from India” function allows companies to build public microsites that present their products and capabilities, and the updated framework adds a Start-up Badge for qualifying DPIIT-recognised firms.
The new rules also create a lighter onboarding route for early-stage exporters. DPIIT-recognised startups with a valid Import Export Code that is not on the Denied Entity List can join even if they have not met the usual export performance threshold, with eligibility checked against the DGFT’s IEC database. Startups already using Trade Connect and linked to qualifying IECs will be able to create their microsites through their dashboard, and the department has issued a user guide to help with registration.
The change builds on an earlier version of the framework that was limited to valid IEC holders meeting prescribed export realisation criteria. It also fits a broader pattern of DGFT using Trade Connect to widen digital access to export services. In 2025, the department amended rules for pharmaceutical exporters on the same platform, and in July 2026 it moved preferential certificate of origin issuance for UK-bound shipments onto Trade Connect after the India-UK trade pact took effect, underscoring the platform’s growing role in export facilitation.
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