The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has announced several reforms in a bid to support the framework of “Ease of Doing Business” and make the trade of Indian exporters easier. These are special measures aimed at enhancing the efficiency of operations of the Norms Committees (NCs) operating within the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). Through systemic enhancements, the government aspires to reduce turnaround times substantially, grant early approvals, and provide a transparent and predictable business environment through the Advance Authorisation (AA) Scheme.

Operational challenges and framework understanding

Authorizations are granted on notified Standard Input Output Norms (SION). In cases when there is a lack of SION, authorisation is granted on the basis of self-proclaimed norms on behalf of the applicants. These proclaimed rules should thereafter be observed and concluded by one of the seven sector-specific Norms Commissions functioning under the DGFT. These committees, which consist of technical experts and specialists in various departments based on domains, are tasked with the remediation of ad-hoc norms and proposed SION notifications.

However, despite their significance, the operation of these committees had, in the recent past, experienced challenges due to capacity barriers. In early February 2026, twelve technical members, including five government officers, were attached to these committees. 

This shortage of specialists resulted in an increasing number of unprocessed applications as the members juggled overlapping roles. The delays that were caused in norms fixation were usually translated into transaction costs and duration of exporters, especially affecting the competitiveness of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

Strategic reforms and impact

To solve these bottleneck problems, the government has adopted a multi-pronged reform agenda focusing on governance and capacity augmentation. Guidelines have been provided in detail to make sure that the operation of all Norms Committees is similar and consistent. The changes that are among the most important at the institutional level are the regularity in the scheduling of meetings, taken on a consistent, bi-weekly basis, as opposed to ad hoc. 

The committees have been instructed to focus on long- pending cases and follow time-limited completion of meeting minutes. Accountability has been incorporated in the workflow by systematic monitoring of case ageing and pendency. The government is working on finding common cases to be converted into permanent SION, which will assist in eradicating repetitive requests for common export items.

The augmentation of the technical capacity is a major part of the reform. To ensure that the more technical expertise is required, it was noted that line ministries were invited to nominate more technical officers. This has been a massive success, and ten new technical members have recently been nominated across multiple ministries. 

This growth has actually made the total number of Technical Authorities 22 instead of 12. This 80% increase in specialized staff has significantly facilitated the committees to clear more applications with increased technical accuracy and speed.

The effects of these reforms are already being felt with the introduction of a specialized disposal drive to clear the pending backlog of applications. The Norms Committees had a total of 38 meetings between January 2026 and early April 2026. It was during this time that 3,925 cases were actively reviewed and 1,770 cases were disposed of. These statistics reveal a significant increase in the approval rate and a definite direction for the eradication of the pendency of the past.

Conclusion

The extensive changes that have been taken to empower the Norms Committees under the DGFT are an important move in the process of transforming India into an export giant. Through simplifying the norms fixation process and overcoming the human resource limitations, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is making a direct reduction in the number of hurdles exporters must overcome to obtain the benefits of the duty-free. These measures are a perfect fit into the wider national agenda of establishing a foreseeable and enabling trade environment.

These enhancements not only improve the turnaround time and make the cost of transactions low in MSMEs, but also make Indian products more competitive in the global market. With the government still paying close attention to these systemic changes, there is the hope that there will be a more robust, open, and effective trade facilitation infrastructure that aligns with the ambitious growth goals of the Indian export market.