About the Project

The second phase of the project will focus on the National Foreign Trade Policy of India, 2004-09. Since 2005, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India as the designated authority for preparing and implementing this policy, has been publishing a supplementary annual policy report of the National Foreign Trade Policy of India, 2004-09.

In the first year (July 2007 to June 2008), the project partners will take a stock of how state governments and other stakeholders in the incorporated states are involved in the process of preparation and implementation of the NFTP. After this institutional analysis, State government officials and business stakeholders, civil society and community-based organisations will be extensively consulted in order to make the process of preparation and implementation of the NFTP more inclusive – not only in economical but also in social and political terms. Likewise, advocacy and networking components will form a substantial part of the project activities in the second and third year of the project.

In the second year (July 2008 to June 2009), the project partners will conduct research on specific products of the NFTP thrust areas in order to understand whether and how employment-intensive exports have been generated on these products as a result of the implementation of the National Foreign Trade Policy of India, 2004-09.

In the third year (July 2009 to June 2010), the project partners will conduct similar research on a different set of products from those analyzed in the second year. The next National Foreign Trade Policy of India will be announced in April 2009. Thus, the product range under research in the third year of the project will depend on the thrust areas of the new policy.