Coir Vikas Yojana - Export Market Promotion Scheme

What is the Coir Vikas Yojana - Export Market Promotion Scheme?

Coir Vikas Yojana - Export Market Promotion Scheme is a Central Sector scheme implemented by the Coir Board, a statutory body under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. According to the Coir Board, the scheme is run "with a view to improve the export performance of Indian Coir Sector through various export market promotion activities."

India is the world's largest producer and exporter of coir and coir products, and this scheme is the Coir Board's main instrument for building and holding overseas markets for the sector. It sits within the wider Coir Vikas Yojana group of Coir Board schemes, which also covers skill training, entrepreneurship development and domestic market promotion.

According to the Coir Board, the Export Market Promotion Scheme supports six kinds of activity:

1. Delegations, consultancy and information sourcing, sponsoring trade delegations and gathering market intelligence.
2. Participation in seminars and conferences relevant to the coir trade.
3. Participation in international fairs and buyer-seller meets: organising the Indian coir sector's presence at overseas exhibitions.
4. Publicity abroad: generic promotion of Indian coir in foreign markets.
5. External Market Development Assistance, financial assistance to micro, small and medium enterprises and exporters for developing export markets.
6. Coir Industry Awards — presented annually to recognise outstanding performance in export, domestic trade, research and development, and the functioning of units and societies.

Who is eligible for the Export Market Promotion Scheme?

You can apply if you are:

• A manufacturer of coir or coir products,
• A coir-sector entrepreneur, or
• An exporter of coir and coir products.

The scheme is aimed at businesses in the coir value chain that export or want to develop export markets. Exporters would typically hold an Import Export Code (IEC) from the DGFT and be registered with the Coir Board.

You cannot apply if:

• You are a member of the general public looking for a personal or household benefit, this is not a welfare scheme.
• Your business has no connection to the coir sector.

Because the scheme funds market-promotion activities rather than paying a fixed individual entitlement, support is tied to a specific approved activity such as participation in a named international fair or a delegation.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Export Market Promotion Scheme

1. Obtain the application form from the Coir Board Head Office in Kochi, or download it from the Coir Board website at coirboard.gov.in.
2. Identify the export-promotion activity you are applying for, for example, participation in a specific international fair or buyer-seller meet, a delegation, or market development assistance.
3. Complete the form and attach the supporting documents, including proof of your coir business, IEC (for exporters) and details of the expenditure.
4. Submit the application to the Coir Board through the relevant Regional or Sub-Regional Office or the Head Office, as directed in the scheme guidelines, for approval before or after the activity as applicable.

Because the exact rates, ceilings and claim windows vary by activity and are revised from time to time, always confirm the current scheme guidelines with the Coir Board before incurring expenditure you intend to claim.

Help and contact

• Coir Board toll-free: 1800-425-9091
• Portal: coirboard.gov.in
• Head Office: Coir Board, Kochi, Kerala

A note on scope

Coir Vikas Yojana - Export Market Promotion Scheme is a sector-specific export-promotion scheme, not an individual benefit. It reaches its beneficiaries through activities; fairs, delegations, publicity and market development assistance; rather than through a per-person payment. Coir businesses should treat the Coir Board's Regional/Sub-Regional Offices as their first point of contact and rely on the official scheme guidelines for the precise financial assistance available for each activity, since those figures are set activity by activity and are not published as a single headline amount.

How to check your application status

The Export Market Promotion Scheme does not run on a single online applicant portal with a status-tracking dashboard, so follow-up is mostly direct with the Coir Board rather than a self-service check.

1. Note your reference details at submission. When you hand in or courier the application to the Coir Board Head Office or the relevant Regional/Sub-Regional Office, ask for an acknowledgement, a receipt number or a dated stamped copy of your covering letter. Keep this; it is what the office will use to trace your file.
2. Call the Coir Board toll-free number on 1800-425-9091 and quote the activity you applied for (name of the fair, delegation or market development claim), the date of submission and the office you submitted to. Because approvals for fairs and delegations are often tied to a calendar of scheduled events, an officer can usually tell you whether your file is still under scrutiny, has gone to the sanctioning authority, or has been approved.
3. Follow up with the same Regional or Sub-Regional Office you submitted to, rather than the Head Office, if your application was filed regionally. Regional offices process the bulk of these applications and hold the working file.
4. For claims linked to an event that has already happened (post-participation reimbursement of a fair or delegation expense), status queries are really about the expenditure-verification stage. Be ready to confirm which invoices and receipts you submitted, since delays at this stage usually mean the office is still verifying proof of expenditure against the approved activity.
5. Check the Coir Board website (coirboard.gov.in) periodically for circulars, notices or updated guidelines on the Export Market Promotion Scheme; the Board sometimes publishes procedural updates or revised formats there even without a dedicated tracking tool for individual applications.

Because there is no unified online tracker, applicants who do not hear back within a reasonable period after submission should proactively call or write to the office rather than wait indefinitely.

Common reasons for rejection

• Applicant is not a coir-sector entity. The scheme funds coir manufacturers, entrepreneurs and exporters only. General businesses or individuals unconnected to coir manufacturing or export get turned away at the eligibility stage. Fix: apply only if your unit is genuinely engaged in coir or coir products, and be prepared to show registration or business proof establishing that.
• Missing or invalid Import Export Code (IEC). For claims tied to export activity, exporters without a valid DGFT-issued IEC cannot be treated as bona fide exporters for the scheme's purposes. Fix: obtain and quote a valid IEC before applying for export-linked assistance; renew it if lapsed.
• Activity not covered under one of the six approved heads. Assistance is activity-specific: delegations, seminars/conferences, international fairs and buyer-seller meets, publicity abroad, market development assistance, or the Coir Industry Awards. A request for an unrelated expense, or for general business support outside these six heads, does not fit the scheme. Fix: map your request clearly to one of the six named categories before applying, and describe the activity in those terms.
• Application filed after the activity without prior intimation, where prior approval was required. Some categories of support (for example participation in a specific international fair) are expected to be approved before the expenditure is incurred, not claimed as an afterthought. Fix: contact the Coir Board and seek approval for the planned activity ahead of time wherever the guidelines call for prior sanction, rather than applying only after the event.
• Incomplete or missing proof of expenditure. Since the scheme reimburses or supports actual costs of an export-promotion activity, claims without proper invoices, receipts or expenditure statements for the specific activity are commonly sent back or held up. Fix: retain and submit clear, itemised proof of expenditure that matches the approved activity, not general business expenses.
• Application submitted to the wrong office or in the wrong format. Sending the form to an office that does not handle that category of assistance, or using an outdated form, can delay or derail processing. Fix: confirm with the Coir Board toll-free number or the website which office (Head Office, Regional or Sub-Regional) handles your specific activity before submitting, and use the current application form downloaded from coirboard.gov.in.
• Claim amount or ceiling not aligned with current scheme guidelines. Rates and ceilings for each activity are revised from time to time; a claim based on outdated figures may be reduced or queried. Fix: verify the current guidelines and applicable ceilings with the Coir Board before incurring expenditure you intend to claim, rather than relying on old circulars.