Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES)

What is the Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES)?

The Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES) is a scheme of the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, that helps build the physical infrastructure exports depend on. According to the Department of Commerce, TIES provides grant-in-aid to central and state government agencies to create new or upgrade existing infrastructure that has significant export linkages.

TIES was launched in March 2017 and has been implemented from financial year 2017-18, taking over the export-infrastructure role of the earlier ASIDE (Assistance to States for Development of Export Infrastructure) scheme, which was discontinued in 2015. The idea is that even the most competitive exporter is held back if goods cannot be tested, certified, stored, cleared and shipped efficiently, so the government funds the shared infrastructure that many exporters use.

TIES is not a subsidy to exporters and it is not a citizen benefit. It is a capital grant to government-owned agencies that build export infrastructure which the wider exporting community then uses.

What infrastructure does TIES fund?

TIES supports infrastructure projects with a clear export linkage, including:

• Border haats and land customs stations for trade with neighbouring countries.
• Quality testing and certification laboratories so products can meet export standards.
• Cold chains and temperature-controlled storage for perishable exports.
• Trade promotion centres and convention facilities.
• Export warehousing and packaging facilities.
• Dry ports and cargo terminals at ports and airports.

Projects that only serve the domestic market, without a demonstrable export linkage, do not qualify. The export connection is central to the scheme.

How much grant does TIES provide?

The central assistance under TIES is a grant-in-aid, and it is capped in two ways:

• Per-project ceiling: the central grant is subject to a ceiling of Rs 20 crore for each infrastructure project.
• Equity link: the grant is normally not more than the equity put in by the implementing agency, or 50% of the total project equity, whichever is lower.

For projects located in the North Eastern States and Himalayan States, including Jammu and Kashmir, the grant can be higher, up to 80% of the total equity: reflecting the greater difficulty and cost of building infrastructure in these regions.

Because the grant is tied to the agency's own equity, the implementing agency must have real financial commitment to the project; TIES is designed to supplement, not fully fund, government investment in export infrastructure.

Who is eligible for TIES?

Eligible implementing agencies are:

• Central and state government agencies, and their joint ventures where the government holds the major stake.
• Export Promotion Councils and commodity boards.
• SEZ authorities.
• Apex trade bodies recognised under the Foreign Trade Policy.

The infrastructure created must be owned by the government agency (or its majority-owned joint venture) and must have significant export linkages.

Who cannot apply or claim a benefit:

• Individuals cannot claim a personal benefit under TIES. It funds infrastructure, not people, and there is no citizen application.
• Private companies cannot receive the grant. A purely private firm is not an eligible implementing agency, although private participation can occur through a government-majority joint venture.
• Projects without a genuine export linkage, or that duplicate existing facilities, are not eligible.

How to apply for TIES support

TIES is applied for by an eligible implementing agency, not by exporters directly. The process is:

1. The eligible implementing agency identifies an export-infrastructure project with clear export linkages and firms up its equity commitment.
2. It prepares a detailed project report covering the infrastructure, its export linkage, cost, funding pattern, land and clearances, and expected outcomes.
3. It submits the proposal to the Department of Commerce in the prescribed format.
4. An inter-ministerial supported Committee appraises the proposal against the scheme's criteria: export linkage, viability and funding pattern — and sanctions the grant-in-aid with conditions.
5. The agency implements the project with the grant released in stages, and the supported Committee monitors progress and the achievement of export outcomes until completion.

The supported Committee is an inter-ministerial body chaired by the Commerce Secretary, constituted specifically for TIES. It appraises each proposal, sanctions the grant with conditions, and then periodically reviews the approved projects to make sure they deliver the export outcomes promised. This committee structure is what keeps TIES a scrutinised capital-grant scheme rather than an open subsidy: every rupee is tied to a specific, appraised project.

How many projects has TIES funded?

TIES has funded a modest but concrete set of projects since it began. According to the Department of Commerce, financial assistance for a total of 40 export infrastructure projects was approved across the years FY 2019-20 to FY 2022-23, and about Rs 278 crore was released for these projects over that period. These figures show the scheme working as intended. A capped grant filling specific infrastructure gaps, not a large-outlay programme. Because approvals and releases are made project by project through the supported Committee, the annual numbers vary with the quality and readiness of the proposals that state agencies and Export Promotion Councils bring forward.

How exporters benefit indirectly

Even though exporters cannot apply for TIES, they are its ultimate beneficiaries. A new testing and certification lab built with TIES support lets local exporters certify products to international standards without shipping samples across the country. A cold chain near a production cluster reduces spoilage of perishable exports. A border haat or land customs station speeds up cross-border trade. In each case, TIES lowers the shared cost and friction that would otherwise weigh on every exporter in the region.

For an exporter, the practical implication is to engage with state export authorities and Export Promotion Councils about the export-infrastructure projects proposed for their cluster, since those bodies are the ones that channel TIES proposals.

How TIES fits with other export schemes

TIES occupies a distinct place among India's export schemes. RoDTEP and RoSCTL remit embedded taxes on exported goods; the interest subvention scheme cuts the cost of export credit; and MAI funds market-development and promotion. TIES, by contrast, is the only one aimed at hard infrastructure, the labs, cold chains, dry ports and border facilities that make exporting physically possible and efficient.

Because the money goes to government agencies rather than exporters, TIES works upstream of the firm-level incentives. A cluster of small exporters cannot build a shared testing lab or a dry port on its own, and no single firm would fund infrastructure that its competitors also use. TIES solves this collective problem by putting a capped central grant behind a government agency willing to put in its own equity, with a higher grant share for the harder geographies of the North East, the Himalayan states and Jammu and Kashmir.

The Rs 20 crore per-project ceiling keeps TIES focused on filling specific infrastructure gaps rather than funding very large ports or highways, which are covered by other ministries and larger programmes. The supported Committee's appraisal and monitoring role is meant to ensure each project delivers a real, measurable improvement in export capacity rather than becoming an under-used asset.

Help and where to verify

• Department of Commerce: commerce.gov.in, for the TIES guidelines, the application format and the list of sanctioned projects
• State export/industry departments and Export Promotion Councils. The agencies that typically prepare and route TIES proposals

Because the per-project ceiling, equity conditions and eligible infrastructure list can be revised through updated guidelines, an implementing agency should confirm the current TIES terms with the Department of Commerce before preparing a proposal.

How to check your application status

TIES has no individual applicant login or citizen-facing tracking portal, because the applicant is always a government agency, Export Promotion Council, commodity board, SEZ authority or apex trade body, not a person. Once an implementing agency has submitted its project proposal to the Department of Commerce, status is tracked through the agency's own channel to the department rather than through any public dashboard:

1. Nodal officer follow-up. The implementing agency's designated project or nodal officer, whoever prepared and filed the detailed project report, is the point of contact with the Department of Commerce. Status updates on appraisal, queries or sanction come to that officer, not to a general public helpdesk.
2. Direct correspondence with the Department of Commerce. Since TIES has no dedicated citizen helpline, an agency should raise status queries in writing (letter or official email referencing the proposal number and project name) to the Department of Commerce, addressed to the section handling TIES within the Foreign Trade Territory or export infrastructure division.
3. Empowered/Screening Committee cycle. Proposals move through the inter-ministerial committee chaired by the Commerce Secretary in periodic meetings rather than continuously. An agency that has submitted a proposal should expect status to change only after a committee meeting has actually considered it, and can ask the department when the next relevant meeting is scheduled.
4. Sanction letter and conditions. If a project is approved, the implementing agency receives a formal sanction letter specifying the grant amount, conditions and the schedule for staged release. This letter, not a portal notification, is the official confirmation of approval.
5. Progress reporting during implementation. After sanction, the agency is required to report physical and financial progress back to the Department of Commerce (and the supported Committee that monitors the project) to trigger each subsequent tranche of the grant. This reporting obligation runs in the opposite direction: the agency updates the department, rather than checking a status field itself.
6. commerce.gov.in for policy and released-project information. The Department of Commerce website carries TIES guidelines and, periodically, information on sanctioned projects and cumulative releases, useful for an agency to benchmark its own proposal but not a live per-application tracker.

Because exporters themselves cannot apply, there is nothing for an individual exporter to "track" under TIES; an exporter interested in a specific piece of infrastructure should instead ask the relevant state export/industry department or Export Promotion Council whether a TIES proposal for that facility has been filed and where it stands.

Common reasons for rejection

TIES proposals are turned down or sent back for revision by the appraising committee for a fairly narrow set of recurring reasons, since the pool of applicants is agencies rather than the general public:

• Applicant is not an eligible implementing agency. A private company, a cooperative without government-majority control, or an individual promoter submitting on behalf of a project will be rejected outright. The fix is to route the proposal through a genuinely eligible agency, a state government department, an Export Promotion Council, a commodity board, an SEZ authority or a recognised apex trade body, rather than trying to apply directly.
• Weak or absent export linkage. If the detailed project report cannot demonstrate that the infrastructure primarily serves export activity (as opposed to general domestic trade or local commerce), the committee will not sanction it. The fix is to quantify the export linkage explicitly: which exporters or export clusters will use the facility, expected export volumes served, and how the facility removes a specific export bottleneck.
• Project duplicates existing infrastructure. A proposal for a testing lab, cold chain or dry port that already exists nearby, or that overlaps with a project already funded under TIES or another central scheme, is rejected to avoid redundant capacity. The fix is a needs assessment in the DPR showing the gap the new facility fills that existing infrastructure does not.
• Equity commitment not firmed up or not evidenced. Since the grant is capped against the implementing agency's own equity (normally 50%, up to 80% in NE/Himalayan states), a proposal without a clear, documented equity commitment from the agency is incomplete. The fix is to secure and document the agency's budgetary approval for its equity share before submission, not merely an intention to arrange funds later.
• Land or statutory clearances not in place. Proposals submitted without confirmed land availability, or without the environmental, local body or other statutory clearances the specific infrastructure requires, are held back pending those clearances. The fix is to secure land title/allotment and initiate clearance processes before, or in parallel with, filing so the DPR can show real progress rather than a plan contingent on land that is not yet secured.
• Incomplete or inadequately appraised detailed project report. A DPR that lacks a credible cost estimate, funding pattern, implementation timeline or technical appraisal gives the committee no basis to sanction a specific grant amount. The fix is to have the DPR technically and financially appraised (by a bank, technical consultant or the sponsoring department) before it goes to the Department of Commerce, so the committee is reviewing a bankable proposal rather than a concept note.
• Project scale exceeds what the per-project ceiling can meaningfully support. A very large infrastructure project where the Rs 20 crore ceiling would fund only a token share is sometimes redirected to other central schemes or larger port/highway programmes better suited to its size, rather than approved under TIES. The fix is to either scope the project to a phase or component that fits TIES's ceiling, or to apply to the more appropriate larger programme instead.
• Poor progress or non-utilisation after an earlier sanction. An implementing agency with unutilised or poorly progressing funds from a previous TIES sanction can find a fresh proposal viewed unfavourably by the supported Committee, since ongoing monitoring covers the agency's track record, not just the new project. The fix is to clear pending utilisation certificates and show satisfactory progress on any existing TIES-funded project before submitting a new one.