Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal, launched the National Strategic Trade Command Centre (NSTCC) at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi, in the presence of Commerce Secretary, Shri Rajesh Agrawal, and Director General, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Shri Lav Agarwal.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Piyush Goyal lauded NSTCC for enabling data-driven, evidence-based trade decisions. While reviewing the SCOMET (Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies) dashboard, in particular, he called for regular meetings of the Inter-Ministerial Committee, weekly if required, to clear the backlog of pending applications and ensure that all applications are cleared expeditiously.
Developed by the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, NSTCC is a strategic initiative aimed at strengthening the monitoring, analysis and governance of India's international trade ecosystem through integrated data analytics and evidence-based decision-making.
The Command Centre has been conceptualised to provide senior policymakers and government officials with a consolidated view of India's trade performance, export promotion schemes, regulatory approvals, application processing and operational indicators. By bringing together information from multiple trade-related systems, NSTCC seeks to facilitate timely identification of emerging trends, operational bottlenecks and areas requiring policy or administrative intervention.
At the core of NSTCC is an integrated analytics and visualisation platform developed to transform trade-related data into actionable insights. NSTCC provides interactive dashboards covering key trade indicators, scheme performance, application pendency, processing timelines, regional trends and compliance-related parameters.
The platform enables users to analyse information across multiple levels, including national trade performance, Regional Authorities, schemes, products, destination markets and individual applications, subject to role-based access permissions.
In its initial phase, the Command Centre brings together dashboards covering key DGFT functions and trade-related domains, including Importer Exporter Code (IEC), Advance Authorisation, Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG), Certificate of Origin (CoO), SCOMET, restricted imports and exports, and other regulatory and trade facilitation processes. These dashboards will enable monitoring of scheme utilisation, processing efficiency, export obligations, trade patterns and operational performance across Regional Authorities.
The NSTCC is designed to support three key dimensions of trade governance:
• Integrated Monitoring: Providing consolidated visibility into trade trends, application processing, pendency and emerging risks, enabling timely identification and resolution of operational issues.
• Performance Assessment: Facilitating monitoring and benchmarking of schemes, processes and Regional Authorities against defined performance indicators to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.
• Evidence-Based Policy Inputs: Identifying recurring bottlenecks, procedural complexities and emerging trade patterns to support policy simplification, process improvements and targeted trade facilitation measures.
The initiative also seeks to strengthen India's trade intelligence capabilities by enabling product-wise and market-wise analysis, assessment of trade agreement utilisation, identification of export opportunities and monitoring of India's trade positioning across international markets.
NSTCC has been designed to leverage existing digital infrastructure, including DGFT systems and the Trade Connect ePlatform, while providing a framework for progressive integration of additional datasets from other departments and trade-related agencies.
Going forward, the Command Centre is envisaged to evolve into a broader whole-of-government decision-support mechanism, with phased access for authorised stakeholders, including relevant ministries, states, Export Promotion Councils and other institutions. Its analytical capabilities will also be progressively strengthened through additional data integration, automated alerts and advanced analytics.
The launch of NSTCC marks an important step towards proactive, transparent and responsive trade governance, enabling the Department of Commerce and DGFT to move from periodic reporting towards continuous monitoring, coordinated intervention and evidence-based policy formulation.
The initiative reinforces the Government of India's commitment to leveraging digital technologies and data-driven governance to strengthen trade facilitation, improve administrative efficiency and enhance India's competitiveness in global trade.
Abhishek Dayal/C N Abhijith Narayanan/Abhimanyu Panwar