New Delhi: Just two weeks after rolling out the Niryat Protsahan scheme, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has tightened eligibility norms, reduced the scope of support, and laid down clearer compliance rules for interest support to MSME exporters.
The changes, notified on Friday, are intended to remove ambiguities in eligibility, rates and claims processing that had emerged following the announcement of the scheme on 2 January.
The Niryat Protsahan scheme is a sub-scheme of the Export Promotion Mission (EPM), which has a total outlay of ₹25,060 crore for the period from FY26 to FY31, and is jointly implemented by the department of commerce, the ministry of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) and the ministry of finance. The government is yet to notify the separate outlay for the Niryat Protsahan scheme.
Under the revised rules, interest subvention will now apply only to the interest cost actually borne by the exporter, and not to any broader credit cost element, a change that significantly limits the scope of support and removes interpretational leeway for banks and exporters. Deemed exports have also been explicitly excluded from eligibility, tightening the scheme’s coverage.
Another key change is that interest subvention will cease to be available if an export credit account turns non-performing before completion of the eligible export cycle, reinforcing discipline around timely repayment and export realization, the DGFT said.
Revised interest subvention rates, whenever notified, will apply only to export credit facilities sanctioned after the date of such notification, while existing facilities will continue under the rate prevailing at the time of sanction, ruling out retrospective changes for exporters and lenders.
The regulatory basis for eligible export credit has also been updated. While the earlier framework linked eligibility to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) master directions on pre- and post-shipment export credit, the revised guidelines now anchor it to RBI’s consolidated directions on credit facilities, aligning the scheme with the central bank’s updated supervisory framework for banks.
The revised framework also provides clarity on MSME reclassification. Exporters graduating out of their MSME category during a financial year due to higher investment or turnover will continue to receive interest subvention support for three years from the date of reclassification, subject to fulfilment of other conditions. This provision offers continuity to growing exporters who might otherwise have seen benefits withdrawn abruptly.
On compliance, greater responsibility has been placed on exporters availing export credit from multiple lending institutions, who will now be solely responsible for ensuring that aggregate interest subvention claims remain within the prescribed annual ceiling, with any excess recoverable.
For banks, the reimbursement mechanism has been tightened. Monthly reimbursements will be limited to the actual interest subvention extended, based on verified claims submitted to the RBI. All Import Export Code (IEC)-wise claims and related reports must be filed online within 15 days of the end of each month, and manual submissions have been expressly disallowed.
The DGFT order also clarified that for FY26, the annual interest subvention ceiling will apply in full and will not be subject to any pro-rata adjustment, regardless of when export credit is sanctioned or utilized during the year. Interest subvention will be available only for export credit sanctioned on or after 2 January 2026, the date on which the scheme was first notified.
All other provisions of the original trade notice issued earlier this month remain unchanged, the DGFT said, indicating that the latest amendments are intended to finetune implementation rather than alter the core structure of the scheme.
The EPM comprises two sub-schemes—Niryat Protsahan, which focuses on trade finance support, and Niryat Disha, which addresses non-financial enablers such as market access, branding, regulatory compliance, logistics and trade intelligence. The scheme is aimed at supporting smaller exporters facing working-capital and collateral constraints by lowering the cost of export credit and easing access to finance, the commerce ministry said in a statement.
As per government data, MSMEs exports have witnessed a remarkable rise, increasing from ₹3.95 trillion in 2020-21 to ₹12.39 trillion in 2024-25, underscoring their critical role in boosting India’s economy and strengthening global trade.
The number of exporting MSMEs has also increased considerably—from 52,849 in 2020-21 to 173,350 in 2024-25. MSMEs contributed 45.73% to the country’s exports in 2023-24, as per the government data.