Export Promotion Mission and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Exports - Has India got the desired push for Exports?
Background
Over the past few months, the United States has signed a series of trade agreements across Asia and Europe under its renewed ‘reciprocal tariff’ policy. These trade deals reveal a similar pattern- US slightly lowered its tariffs, fixing at around 15-20 per cent in return for wider market access for American goods and more investments in the American economy. Now India with 50 per cent tariffs has a relative disadvantage of around 16 per cent[1] with high downside risks especially in key labor intensive sectors including textiles, leather and gems & jewelry.
Still, India chose to stand out, carefully assessing the tariff levels being demanded by the US and weighing them against our domestic priorities. India is not willing to compromise on sensitive sectors such as agriculture, automobiles and pharmaceuticals.
Also Read: G20 Summit 2025
Government Support
Considering the rising volatility in India trade dynamics, the government of India has redefined its export strategy. In November 2025, two major policy actions are announced-
1. The Export Promotion Mission (EPM)
2. The Credit Guarantee Scheme for Exports (CGSE)
Together, these announcements aim to strengthen or rebuild India’s export competitiveness. Let’s look at the features of both the policy measures-
A. The Export Promotion Mission-
· Provides an outlay of INR 25,060 crores over a six-year period from 2025-26 to 2030-31.
· Directed to solve the long-standing issues of slow processes, low awareness among MSMEs and weak coordination among government departments.
· Reduces compliance costs, complexity of trade finance and logistical disadvantages.
· Primarily, the scheme integrates the older Interest Equalization Scheme (IES) and the Market Access Initiative (MAI) and offers a unified digital platform and sector focused interventions.
· Operates through two sub-schemes- (a). NIRYAT PROTSAHAN (the financial aspect which provides accessible and affordable trade finance) and (b). NIRYAT DISHA (Improves market competitiveness)
B. Credit Guarantee Scheme for Exports (CGSE)
· Offers collateral free credit support of up to INR 20,000 crore.
· 100% credit guarantee will be provided through National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Limited (“NCGTC”) to Member Lending Institutions.
· The scheme will significantly reduce lending risks for the banks, thereby enhancing the working capital requirement of the exporters, especially benefitting MSMEs in times of distress.
· Benefits include- lower borrowing costs and fast sanctions and disbursal of loans
These policy support complement each other in the sense that while EPM provides the structure and plan for export promotion, the CGSE is the first step in terms of credit supplement that businesses critically need.
However, the question is will this allocation be enough?
A look at budget allocations under IES and MAI over the past few years shows these schemes alone used to cost around INR 3000-3900 crores every year (see table below).
Nonetheless, the allocation of INR 25,060 crores for 6-year period under the EPM, which is approximately INR 4200 crores seems to create limited impact on the overall exports. This is because almost six months of the year have already gone by, meaning that the effective scope for fresh approvals, disbursements and on-ground implementation in the first year of EPM will be limited and there would be no or little available for the new support.
This situation is worrisome because of the current and rising uncertainty in the global market. Indian exporters need stronger cushion against the volatility especially in the light of US agreements with other Asian peer countries which not only have lower reciprocal tariffs but also offer stronger export support to their businesses.
Thus, in order to reach the export target of USD 2 trillion by 2030, the allocation for such schemes should be strengthened. Else, these schemes would just be an incremental step rather than a transformational one.
[1] Global Trade Alert