Indian Trade Service
| Service overview | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abbreviation | I.T.S. | ||||||||||
| Formed | 1991 | ||||||||||
| Country |  India | ||||||||||
| Training ground | Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi | ||||||||||
| Controlling authority | Ministry of Commerce, Office of the Director General of Foreign Trade | ||||||||||
| Legal personality | Government service | ||||||||||
| General nature | Foreign Trade Policy Formulation Foreign Trade Policy Implementation<br | ||||||||||
| Preceding service | Central Trade Service | ||||||||||
| Cadre size | 180 (sanctioned), 130 currently employed' | ||||||||||
| Head/Chief | |||||||||||
The Indian Trade Service (ITS), Group ‘A’ Civil Service, was created as a specialized cadre to handle India's international trade & commerce on the basis of the recommendations of the Mathur Committee (Study Team on the Import and Export Trade Control Organization headed by Sri H.C. Mathur, Member of Parliament) in 1965. At present Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Ministry of Commerce is the cadre controlling authority of the ITS, has many regional offices across India, and plays a significant role in India's foreign trade with its policy formulation and implementation.
The Department is headed by a Secretary who is assisted by a Special Secretary & Financial Adviser, three Additional Secretaries, thirteen Joint Secretaries and Joint Secretary level officers and a number of other senior officers. Keeping in view the large increase in workload in matters related to World Trade Organization (WTO), Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs), free trade agreements (FTAs), Special Economic Zones (SEZs), joint study groups (JSGs) etc., two posts each of Joint Secretaries and Directors were created in the Department during 2008-09.
The Department is functionally organized into the following eight Divisions:
- Administration and General Division
- Finance Division
- Economic Division
- Trade Policy Division
- Foreign Trade Territorial Division
- State Trading & Infrastructure Division
- Supply Division
- Plantation Division.
Work profile
- Formulating the foreign trade policy which looks at the gamut of trade promotion and facilitation activities intended to streamline the chain of economic activities which would boost India's external trade.
- Implementing of the foreign trade policy through the regional offices of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade which include cognate activities such as remission of the duties levied on exports, issuance of permissions for imports/ exports, trade facilitation, interface with various trade agencies and apex chambers of commerce, interaction with Customs and State governments, interaction with SEZs, grievance redressal etc.
- Trade policy negotiations for India at the multilateral forum of the World Trade Organization. These negotiations call for a deft balancing of the needs of the domestic industry for ensuring adequate protection and those intended to boost exports not merely for earning foreign exchange but also to invigorate economic growth and ensure wider employment opportunities.
- Negotiating bilateral and multilateral trade agreements with trading partners including the formulation and implementation of FTAs, PTAs, TTTs, EHPs etc.
- Investigating dumping by trading nations and computation of the anti dumping duties. Officers of the Indian Trade Service manning the Directorate General of Anti Dumping (DGAD) have been effectively controlling dumping by the trading nations and India is the second largest imposer of anti-dumping duties.
- Export promotion activities under the purview of the Export Promotion Councils and the apex chambers of export promotion like FIEO, FICCI etc. These include expertise in organizing the Buyer-Seller meets, Open Houses, Exhibitions, Participation in Fairs, providing policy inputs to the government etc.
- Creating an effective interface mechanism between the government and the primary stakeholders through institutions such as the Board of Trade.
- Laying the framework for Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) in trade transactions in order to impart transparency, save time and ensure economy.
- Quality management and quality assurance though effective inspection and risk assessment of export consignments.
The Service has been utilized in the following areas also:
- Ministries and departments having significant trade related activities
- Foreign commercial missions
- Special Economic Zones
Recently, the ITS officers are spearheading the trade activities as Development Commissioners in various SEZs. In fact, serving the various Indian Commercial Consulates by the ITS officers is also on the cards.
Career progression
ITS officers start their careers as Assistant DGFTs and rise up to Additional DGFTs - equivalent to Joint Secretary, Govt of India. Dynamism on the trade front is reflected in a large way through the positions occupied by ITS officials. Individual officers are posted in the DGFT, Department of Commerce and various Ministries and in Export Promotion Councils, Indian Mission at Geneva.
External links
- dgft.delhi.nic.in
- commerce.nic.in