Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has set dates for moving DGFT services fully online. At the inauguration of the new Vanijya Bhawan and Udyog Bhawan in Jaipur on 4 November 2026, he directed that all licence and permit applications, SCOMET approvals and other services be fully online. DGFT regional office data and records are to be digitised by 31 March 2027, and from 1 April 2027 exporters should not need to visit an office in person for these services.
What else was announced
- Jaipur is the first state capital where all the Commerce and Industry Ministry's departments and attached offices sit under one roof. The minister asked for the ministry's 46 organisations to be co-located in the same way across the country.
- The co-located offices are to work as one-stop facilitation centres for exports, investment and domestic trade.
- The minister also asked for deemed approval where an application is not decided within the set time.
Why it matters for exporters
Many licensing tasks still need paper files or a visit to a DGFT regional office, for example some authorisation redemptions, export obligation discharge cases and SCOMET applications. A fully online process with deemed approval would cut delays and travel, especially for exporters far from a regional office.
What to watch
- A DGFT trade notice or public notice setting out which services move online and when. This was a ministerial direction, not a notified rule.
- Whether deemed approval is written into the Foreign Trade Policy or the Handbook of Procedures, and for which applications.
- Exportsmitra suggests: keep your IEC profile, digital signature and DGFT portal login current, and finish any pending physical file work with your regional office well before April 2027.
Sources
Last checked: 5 November 2026.
Drafted with AI help from public sources.
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