Export Promotion Mission (Niryat Protsahan)

What is the Export Promotion Mission?

The Export Promotion Mission (EPM) is a central sector scheme of the Department of Commerce, announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 and approved by the Union Cabinet on 12 November 2025, with a total outlay of Rs 25,060 crore for FY 2025-26 to FY 2030-31. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade is the implementing agency and operates a dedicated digital platform covering application, approval and disbursal.

According to the PIB backgrounder of 6 December 2025, the Mission is a structural consolidation exercise: it merges several fragmented export-support initiatives, interest equalisation, market access initiatives and various export-incentive and infrastructure schemes: into one outcome-based framework. The Mission is delivered jointly by the Department of Commerce, the Ministry of MSME and the Ministry of Finance, working with EXIM Bank, CGTMSE, NCGTC, Export Promotion Councils, commodity boards, Indian Missions abroad and state governments.

The Mission runs through two sub-schemes:

• Niryat Protsahan, financial enablers, mainly trade finance for MSME exporters.
• Niryat Disha: non-financial enablers such as certification, logistics, overseas warehousing, trade intelligence and market access.

Priority sectors named in the Cabinet approval are textiles, leather, gems and jewellery, engineering goods and marine products, all of them hit by recent global tariff escalation, with flexibility to add other sectors.

Is the Export Promotion Mission open for applications yet?

Partly. The Mission is being rolled out intervention by intervention on a pilot basis, not switched on in one go, and this is the single point exporters most often get wrong.

According to PIB, three interventions were operational before February 2026: interest subvention on pre- and post-shipment export credit, collateral support for export credit, and Market Access Support. On 20 February 2026 the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry launched seven more interventions, taking the total to 10 operational interventions and, in PIB's words, advancing the Mission towards near-complete operationalisation.

Uptake is still early. PIB reported in February 2026 that around 3,000 exporters had registered for interest subvention support and around 60 exporters for collateral support since January 2026, and that Rs 850 crore of arrears under the erstwhile Interest Equalisation Scheme had been cleared. Detailed operating guidelines are issued separately; by the Reserve Bank of India for interest subvention and by CGTMSE for the collateral guarantee, and rates are reviewed twice a year, in March and September.

Who is eligible under Niryat Protsahan?

You can apply if:

• You hold a valid Importer Exporter Code (IEC) and a valid Udyam Registration Number, and qualify as a micro, small or medium enterprise.
• Your export product falls on the notified positive list of six-digit tariff lines for the intervention you are claiming. The positive list covers about 75% of India's tariff lines.
• For e-commerce credit, you export through postal, courier or overseas inventory-based fulfilment channels. New MSME exporters qualify if they have at least one year of prior domestic e-commerce turnover.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, in these situations:

• Individuals with no export business cannot claim a personal benefit. Every Niryat Protsahan component is a business credit or reimbursement facility tied to an IEC.
• Large enterprises outside the MSME definition are not eligible for the MSME-specific credit interventions, though some Niryat Disha components have wider coverage.
• Restricted and prohibited items, and waste and scrap, are excluded from the positive list.
• Products already covered by overlapping incentive schemes are excluded, to prevent double benefit.
• Under FLOW, individual exporters cannot apply at all, that component is open only to Export Promotion Councils, commodity boards, logistics, warehousing and fulfilment service providers, industry associations and organisations recommended by central or state government.

What does Niryat Protsahan pay?

Export factoring under this Mission is available for both recourse and non-recourse factoring, in Indian rupees as well as freely convertible foreign currencies, through export factoring firms registered as NBFCs.

What does Niryat Disha pay?

The TRACE Positive List covers commonly required certifications such as CE marking, FDA certification, ISO standards and SABER/SASO. The Priority Positive List covers higher-cost strategic certifications including BRCGS, FSSC 22000 and HACCP for food safety, MSC and ASC for marine products, and SMETA for ethical supply chains.

LIFT is district-targeted. It covers movement from MSME premises to Inland Container Depots, Container Freight Stations, sea ports and air cargo complexes by rail and road, with air movement allowed only for certain regions, and only for notified products from notified districts.

How to apply for Export Promotion Mission benefits

1. Get the basics in place. A valid IEC from dgft.gov.in and a valid Udyam Registration Number. Both are free.
2. Log in to the DGFT portal at dgft.gov.in with your IEC credentials and digital signature or Aadhaar e-sign.
3. Open Services > Export Promotion Mission and select the specific intervention you want, for example interest subvention, TRACE or LIFT.
4. Check the notified positive list for your six-digit HS code before filing. A claim on a tariff line outside the list will not be admitted.
5. File the online application with the supporting documents: bank sanction or disbursement statement for credit claims, certification invoices for TRACE, freight invoices and shipping bills for LIFT.
6. Route the credit-linked part through your lender. Interest subvention is applied by your bank under RBI's operational guidelines, the collateral guarantee is issued by CGTMSE to the bank, and e-commerce credit facilities are extended through EXIM Bank.
7. Track the claim on the DGFT platform, which handles application, approval and disbursal end to end in paperless mode.

Common reasons an Export Promotion Mission claim fails

• Udyam registration missing or lapsed, so MSME status cannot be verified.
• HS code outside the notified positive list for that intervention.
• Annual cap already exhausted; Rs 50 lakh per IEC on interest subvention, Rs 25 lakh on TRACE, Rs 20 lakh on LIFT.
• Overlapping incentive already claimed on the same product, which the positive-list methodology is designed to exclude.
• Applying for a component you are not an eligible entity for, most commonly an individual exporter applying under FLOW.
• Waiting for guidelines that already exist; RBI and CGTMSE issue the detailed operating instructions, and banks will not process a claim until those are in force for that component.

Key dates and status

• 12 November 2025: Union Cabinet approves the Mission, Rs 25,060 crore for FY 2025-26 to FY 2030-31.
• 2 January 2026, first two Niryat Protsahan interventions launched: interest subvention and collateral support.
• 20 February 2026: seven further interventions launched, taking the total operational count to 10.
• March and September each year; scheduled bi-annual review of subvention rates.

Alongside the Mission, the government expanded the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Exporters (CGSE), providing up to Rs 20,000 crore of additional credit support through NCGTC with a 100% government guarantee to member lending institutions, allowing collateral-free credit and additional working capital of up to 20% of sanctioned export working capital limits.

Where to get help

• DGFT toll-free helpdesk: 1800-111-550 or 1800-572-1550
• DGFT EDI helpdesk email: dgftedi[at]nic[dot]in
• Portal: dgft.gov.in, under Services > Export Promotion Mission
• Your lending bank for interest subvention and CGTMSE guarantee questions, and EXIM Bank for e-commerce export credit facilities

DGFT has publicly warned about spurious websites imitating the DGFT site and collecting money. File only on dgft.gov.in.

How to check your application status

Because Niryat Protsahan claims move between three separate systems, the DGFT portal, your bank, and CGTMSE or EXIM Bank, checking status means knowing which of the three is actually holding your file at that moment.

1. Start on the DGFT portal. Log in at dgft.gov.in with your IEC credentials, go to Services > Export Promotion Mission, and open the intervention you applied under. The portal shows the application as filed, under processing, or forwarded to the lending institution, since DGFT runs the platform end to end from application to disbursal.
2. For interest subvention and collateral support, follow up with your bank. Once DGFT forwards an eligible claim, the actual subvention credit or CGTMSE guarantee issuance happens through your lender under RBI's and CGTMSE's own operating guidelines. If the DGFT portal shows the claim as forwarded but nothing has reached your loan account, the bank's trade finance or export credit desk is the right place to ask, not DGFT.
3. For e-commerce credit facilities, check with EXIM Bank. The Direct E-Commerce Credit Facility and Overseas Inventory E-Commerce Credit Facility are extended through EXIM Bank, so status on the actual credit line or guarantee cover sits with EXIM Bank once DGFT has passed the application along.
4. For TRACE, LIFT, FLOW, INSIGHT and MAS claims, status tracking stays within the DGFT platform itself, since these are direct reimbursements or grants rather than bank-routed credit products. Check the claim's stage there before assuming a delay means rejection.
5. Call the DGFT toll-free helpdesk on 1800-111-550 or 1800-572-1550 if the portal status has not moved for several weeks, and have your IEC number and application reference ready.
6. Email the DGFT EDI helpdesk at dgftedi[at]nic[dot]in for a written response on a stuck application, useful if you need a paper trail for a bank or an auditor.
7. Remember that rates and guidelines are reviewed every March and September. A claim filed close to a review date can sit longer than usual while banks wait for updated instructions, which is not the same as a rejection.

Since uptake is still in an early pilot phase (PIB reported roughly 3,000 exporters registered for interest subvention and around 60 for collateral support as of February 2026), processing timelines are still settling down, and a claim taking longer than an established scheme is not on its own a sign of a problem.