Piyush Goyal Chairs Third Meeting of Reconstituted Board of Trade, Launches Key Digital Initiatives

During the meeting, Shri Goyal launched the Department of Commerce’s Jan Sunwai Portal, designed to enhance communication between stakeholders and authorities.

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal, chaired the third meeting of the reconstituted Board of Trade in Mumbai today. The meeting reaffirmed the government’s commitment to driving economic growth through strong partnerships with state governments and advancing a transparent, efficient, and sustainable trade environment.

During the meeting, Shri Goyal launched the Department of Commerce’s Jan Sunwai Portal, designed to enhance communication between stakeholders and authorities. This new portal provides a direct and transparent channel for addressing trade and industry-related issues and features on-demand video conferencing services as well as fixed links for regular interactions. The portal will be accessible across various Department of Commerce offices and autonomous bodies, including the DGFT, Coffee Board, Tea Board, Spices Board, Rubber Board, APEDA, MPEDA, ITPO, and EIC.

In addition, Shri Goyal inaugurated ECGC’s new online service portal and a revamped SMILE-ERP system. These updates mark a significant shift towards paperless processing and faceless service delivery, improving efficiency for exporters and banks. Key benefits of these innovations include full process automation, faster claim disposals, improved operational control, and a reduction in carbon footprint, supporting sustainability goals.

The meeting focused on critical initiatives aimed at fostering employment across states and enhancing the Department of Commerce’s role in promoting state-level economic growth. Interactive presentations from the State Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Madhya Pradesh highlighted their achievements in export promotion and ease of doing business (EODB). These presentations shared best practices and provided valuable insights for peer states, with Assam, Tripura, and Sikkim expected to contribute significantly to higher export potential from the North East region.

In the realm of E-Commerce exports, officials from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) announced that benefits under RoDTEP, RoSCTL, and Drawback schemes will now extend to all exports made via courier, with plans to include postal route exports in the future. This move aims to create a more equitable environment for E-Commerce exporters.

The Board of Trade serves as a key platform for collaboration, discussion, and policy recommendations to boost India’s international trade. The meeting was attended by Ministers from 10 State Governments, including Shri Mauvin Godinho (Goa), Shri Chetanya Kasyap (Madhya Pradesh), Shri Krishna Kumar Vishnoi (Rajasthan), Shri Thangam Thennarasu (Tamil Nadu), Smt. Santana Chakma (Tripura), Shri Nand Gopal Gupta (Uttar Pradesh), Shri Bimal Borah (Assam), Shri Kanubhai Desai (Gujarat), Shri Tshering Thendup Bhutia (Sikkim), and Shri Duddilla Sridhar Babu (Telangana).

Secretary of the Department of Commerce, Shri Sunil Barthwal, Additional Secretary and Director General of DGFT, Shri Santosh Sarangi, and other senior officials from the Government of India and State/UT Governments were also present.