The Programme
Four phases, eight sessions, four one-to-one calls, buyer meetings in February, ninety days of follow-up.
Built around one document: the firm’s first-shipment plan. Each phase opens with a questionnaire, has two working sessions and a one-to-one call with your Export Cell officer, and closes with a tool you keep. We follow up until your first consignment ships.
The Format
Cohort
80 firms in four sector tracks of 20: engineering & auto, pharma, agriculture & food, textiles & apparel.
Dates
1 Dec 2026 to 28 Feb 2027. Orientation on 1 Dec; sessions on Thursdays, 10-11:30 AM. Break: 24 Dec - 6 Jan.
Sessions
Eight 90-min sessions. 1-6 & 8 online; Session 7 (Pitch Day) in person at Indore.
One-to-one calls
One 30-min call with your Export Cell officer in each phase for personalized review and prep.
Questionnaires & Tools
Each phase opens with a 10-min questionnaire and closes with a custom tool built from your answers.
Who attends
One named person (owner/director/manager) attends all 8 sessions. A second may join online.
Work between sessions
Each session sets one practical task (2-4 hrs) to bring to the next session.
Buyer meetings
Phase 4 includes buyer meetings arranged via Indian Missions & bilateral chambers.
Language
Sessions in Hindi and English. Materials in English; Hindi Handbook follows in Jan 2027.
Materials
Shipment plan template, FTA Handbook, worksheets, Q&A records, and session recordings.
Support
Priority FTA Helpdesk, WhatsApp group, and monthly online clinics with customs brokers.
Certificate
Certificate of completion from State Export Commissioner for firms completing their plan.
The Four Phases
The agreement for your product
Opens With
The Readiness Questionnaire: products and HS codes, markets served, shipments in the last year, inputs imported, certificates held, whether a preference has ever been claimed, who in the firm owns exports.
One-to-one call
The product-agreement check: the officer goes through the firm’s product list and confirms the agreement, the line and the duty for each, and the choice for the first shipment.
Closes With
Tool 01, the Duty Saving Sheet: the firm’s products against the State’s list, the agreement, the duty before and after, the saving per consignment, the product and market chosen, and the readiness score with what to fix.
Faculty
DGFT Regional Authority, Bhopal; the MPIDC Export Cell; the Export Promotion Council of the sector.
Sessions Overview
The agreements and your product
Thu, 3 DecThe six agreements in force and the EU agreement to come; what each gives the sector; the State’s list of 870 product-market lines and how to read it; demand in the partner markets; where the duty was already zero; the readiness score explained.
Choosing the first shipment
Thu, 10 DecThe duty saved per consignment, product by product; the worth-claiming test; choosing the product and the market for the first shipment; what Phase 2 will ask for.
The rule of origin and its proof
Opens With
The Origin Questionnaire: the bill of materials for the chosen product, the imported inputs and their value, the ex-works and FOB price, the suppliers of Indian inputs, the records the firm keeps, the digital signature linked to the IEC.
One-to-one call
The origin review: the officer checks the cost sheet and the origin determination with the firm, line by line, and confirms the route for the proof.
Closes With
Tool 02, the Origin File: the cost sheet, the origin determination, the supplier declarations, the Trade Connect registration and a draft of the first certificate or declaration.
Faculty
DGFT (Trade Connect); Export Inspection Agency, Textiles Committee, APEDA and Spices Board; Customs; empanelled customs brokers.
Sessions Overview
Does your product qualify
Thu, 17 DecWholly obtained goods; change in tariff classification; value content by the build-up and build-down methods; tolerance; cumulation; the textile, chemical and food rules; the cost sheet; supplier declarations for Indian inputs; what does not confer origin.
Proof of origin on Trade Connect
Thu, 7 JanRegistration on DGFT’s Trade Connect ePlatform, done live; self-declaration (UK, EFTA; Status Holders for NZ) and agency certificates; the invoice number on the certificate and shipping bill; retrospective issue; records for five years; answering verification requests.
The market: standards, cost and finance
Opens With
The Market Questionnaire: the target market and any buyer in hand, certifications held, the route from the factory to the port, bank and credit arrangements, insurance, the assistance already claimed under the Export Policy or the Mission.
One-to-one call
The landed-cost review: the officer checks the landed cost and the price with the firm and lists the assistance it can claim, with the forms.
Closes With
Tool 03, the Market Entry Sheet: the requirements checklist for the market with who certifies, the landed cost from factory to market, the price with the duty advantage, and the claims plan.
Faculty
The Export Promotion Council of the sector; the Export Inspection Agency and the testing laboratories; ECGC; EXIM Bank and SIDBI; the MPIDC Export Cell; the inland container depot operators.
Sessions Overview
What the border and the buyer require
Thu, 14 JanUK import controls and UKCA/CE marking; UAE conformity, Halal and Arabic labelling; Australian import conditions; EFTA rules; GMP for medicines; residue limits; fibre labelling. Who tests/certifies in the State. Assistance under Export Policy.
The landed cost and the money
Thu, 21 JanFactory to ICD to port; freight and transit times; incoterms; ECGC insurance; pre- and post-shipment finance; interest subvention, collateral cover and factoring; freight assistance; landed-cost sheet; the price with the duty advantage shown.
The buyer
Opens With
The Buyer Questionnaire: the buyers the firm wants to meet, the channel (importer, distributor, retailer, manufacturer), samples and catalogue ready, who will attend the meetings, availability for travel.
One-to-one call
The pitch rehearsal: the officer and a mentor hear the firm’s offer and fix it before the pitch day.
Closes With
Tool 04, the First-Shipment Plan: the one-page offer, the buyer target list, the record of the meetings and the plan to the first consignment.
Faculty
The Indian Missions and bilateral chambers; importers and distributors from the partner markets; the Export Promotion Council of the sector; exporters of the State who have shipped under the agreements, as mentors.
Sessions Overview
The pitch (in person, Indore)
Thu, 28 JanThe one-page offer; the price with the duty advantage; catalogue and samples; the questions buyers ask and the answers; mock pitches before a panel of importers, Council officers and mentors; preparation for the buyer meetings.
Buyer meetings (Special Event)
8 to 19 FebOne round of buyer meetings for each sector, arranged through the Indian Missions and bilateral chambers (London, Dubai, Sydney, Melbourne, Berne). Online or at a trade fair. Each firm’s meetings are recorded in its plan.
Closing: the first shipment
Thu, 25 FebEach firm reports its meetings and its next step; the first-shipment plan is signed off by the firm and its officer; the follow-up calendar to the first consignment; the certificate of completion.
After the programme
Follow-up
Export Cell officer follows firm until first preferential certificate is filed and consignment ships. Agency, broker, bank, Export Policy claim tracked.
Results
State publishes cohort's results: firms completing, shipping under agreement, markets used. Target: 3 in 5 firms shipping within 6 months.
Cohort 2
Eighty more firms, with district quotas, a chemicals track, and a track for first-time exporters. Cohort 1 graduates mentor cohort 2.
Who teaches
The people who write the rules and the people who have used them. Officers of the DGFT Regional Authority, Bhopal, and of DGFT headquarters for Trade Connect; the Bhopal and Indore Customs Commissionerates; the Export Inspection Agency, the Textiles Committee, APEDA and the Spices Board, which issue the certificates; the Export Promotion Councils (EEPC India, Pharmexcil, APEDA, FIEO, AEPC, TEXPROCIL); ECGC, EXIM Bank and SIDBI; the Indian Missions and bilateral chambers; and exporters of Madhya Pradesh who have already shipped under the agreements, as mentors.