The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is the agency of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry

Ministry of Commerce and Industry (India)

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry administers two departments, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion. The head of the Ministry is a Minister of Cabinet rank...

 of the Government of India

Government of India

The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...

 responsible for administering laws regarding foreign trade and foreign investment in India.

IEC

DGFT provides a complete search-able database of all exporters and importers of India. The search can be completed only if full IEC code and first three letters of company name are entered.

DGFT

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is the agency of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Government of India, responsible for execution of the import and export Policies of India. It was earlier known as Chief Controller of Imports & Exports (CCI&E) till 1991. DGFT plays a very important role in the development of trading relations with various other nations and thus help in improving not only the economic growth but also provides a certain impetus needed in the trade industry. For promoting exports and imports DGFT establish its regional offices across the country.

Directorate General of Foreign Trade is an attached office of the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It’s headquartered in Udyog Bhavan, New Delhi

New Delhi

New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

. Under its jurisdiction, there are four Zonal Offices at Delhi, Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

, Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

 and Chennai

Chennai

Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

headed by Zonal Joint Director General of Foreign Trade. There are 35 Regional Authorities all over the country.

Functions and responsibilities of DGFT:

1. DGFT entrusted with the responsibility of implementing various policies regarding trade for example, Foreign Trade Policy.
2. DGFT is the licensing authority for exporters, importers, and export and import business.
3. DGFT can prohibit, restrict and regulate exports and imports.
4. DGFT has important role to issue Notifications, Public notices, Circulars, etc.
5. DGFT grant 10 digit IEC (Importer Exporter Code), which is a primary requirement to Import Export
6. DGFT introduces different schemes from time to time regarding trade benefits throughout the country.
7. DGFT has introduced ITC (HS CODE) schedule-1 for import items in India and Schedule-2 for Export items from India.