The Government has exempted small exporters from having to officially register, in a bid to reduce compliances and facilitate exports through post, courier and other emerging channels, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced on Wednesday (September 16, 2026).

“The Government has introduced a de minimis exemption from the requirement of Registration-cum-Membership Certificate (RCMC) or Certificate of Registration for small-value export consignments up to ₹3 lakh,” the Ministry said in a release.

“The measure is aimed at reducing the compliance burden for new and small exporters and facilitating exports through Postal, Courier and other emerging channels,” it added.

According to the data presented by the government covering 2021-22 to 2025-26, low-value exports account for a significant share of shipping bills but a very small proportion of the overall export value.

“Consignments up to $3,000, for instance, account for 43% of shipping bills but only 0.86% of India’s total merchandise export value,” the government said. “The exemption is therefore expected to cover a substantial number of small-value export transactions while having only a marginal impact on the overall value of exports.”

Prior to this change, exporters were required to obtain an RCMC or Certificate of Registration from the relevant export promotion council or commodity board.

“For new or occasional exporters undertaking small-value consignments, this involves an additional compliance step, including identifying the appropriate registering body, submitting the prescribed documents and completing the registration process before undertaking exports,” the government noted.

Once exporters move past the ₹3 lakh threshold, the government said they can obtain membership of the relevant export promotion councils or commodity boards and thereby access export promotion, market access, and other institutional support.

Economic activity in India’s core industrial sectors saw growth slow to 5.4% in July 2026 from 6% in June, according to official data released on Thursday (August 20, 2026). This was driven by a significant slowdown in the fertilisers, iron ore, and steel sectors, accompanied by a continued contraction in the natural gas and crude oil sectors. 

The data on the Index of Core Industries (ICE) released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, however, showed that July’s growth was still the second-fastest in seven months. The Ministry released a new series of the ICE in July, which means that a historical comparison is possible only up to June 2025.  

Within the index, the fertilisers sector contracted 8% in July 2026, as compared to a contraction of 3.3% in June. The sector had grown 1.9% in July of last year. This performance is likely due to the deficient and patchy ongoing monsoon, and the resultant lower levels of sowing taking place. 

The iron ore sector saw growth slowing to 29.5% in July 2026, from 44.5% in June. However, it is important to point out that these relatively high growth levels are on a low base, since the sector contracted 16.4% and 7.1% in June and July of last year, respectively. 

This low base effect was also apparent in the coal sector’s 11-month high growth rate of 7.6% in July 2026. The sector had contracted 12.3% in July last year. 

Growth in the steel sector slowed to 2.9% in July 2026, the lowest in the 14 months for which there is data, down from 5.6% in June. 

The natural gas and crude oil sectors continued their long streak of contractions. The natural gas sector contracted 3.7% in July 2026, while the crude oil sector contracted 5.3%. Both sectors have contracted continuously for the last 14 months for which there is data. 

The refinery products sector, however, snapped a three-month streak of contractions by growing 2.7% in July 2026, the sector’s best performance in nine months. 

The two relative bright spots among the core sectors were the cement and electricity sectors. The electricity sector grew 9% in July 2026, albeit slower than the 11.4% seen in June. The cement sector saw growth hit 13.1% in July 2026, a seven-month high, over a 11.1% growth in July last year. 

The Index of Core Industries (ICI) has finally joined the country’s other economic metrics in becoming up-to-date and representative of the economy. The other metrics such as the national accounts, Consumer Price Index (CPI), Wholesale Price Index (WPI), and the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) were updated earlier this year, although even those were after considerable delays. The ICI has now joined their ranks with the June data being based on a new series with an updated base year, an additional sector being covered, and revised weights and methodologies. This is a welcome upgrade. The performance of these core industries is a vital barometer of the state of the economy. In the new series, the previous eight sectors have become nine, with the vital inclusion of the iron ore sector. Improvements have also been made to how the steel and coal sectors are measured in order to remove the previous double-counting that was taking place. The addition of a sector would naturally change the distribution of weights of the sectors in the index, but the final weights also reflect a broader shift in economic activity. The coal and natural gas sectors have seen their weights nearly halve to about 5.6% and 3.8%, respectively. On the other hand, the electricity sector now makes up more than 30% of the index from less than 20% in the previous series. All of this perhaps reflects the rising share of renewables in electricity generation, even as demand for electricity itself surges.

The performance of the index in June 2026, with a five-month-high growth of 5%, would suggest that Indian industry is shrugging off the slump induced by the West Asia crisis. However, two of the strong growth numbers — iron ore by 43.9% and electricity by 9.8% — were due to a statistical base effect since both sectors had contracted in June last year. It remains to be seen whether the numbers will remain this positive once that base effect wears off in the months ahead. The new series highlights some of the systemic issues that the old series did, such as the persistent contraction of the crude oil and natural gas sectors. They have contracted continuously for 18 and 24 months, respectively. If India does not have these resources, that is one thing. But if it has them and still is not able to extract them economically, then that is a serious shortcoming. The update of the ICI and the recent upgrade of the WPI would have been a good time for a broader statistical reorganisation. With the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation handling the CPI and the IIP, it only makes sense for the WPI and ICI to move to it from their current home in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. That change can still be made.

The government has, in recent months, implemented several long-overdue but welcome upgrades to India’s statistical databases. Wide-ranging, they cover the way the country measures Gross Domestic Product (GDP), industrial production, and price changes at the retail, wholesale, and producer levels. These updates have not only made India’s key economic statistics more representative of reality, but have also brought them in line with international best practices. The most basic change across all indices has been the updating of base years. Until recently, the base years for GDP, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), Wholesale Price Index (WPI), and Index of Industrial Production (IIP) were either 2011 or 2012. As such, these measures were significantly outdated and less reflective of reality with each passing year. In February, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the new series of national accounts data, including GDP, with a base year of 2022-23. The new series incorporates methodological improvements and new data sources, making it more granular and robust. Some of these, such as the double-deflator approach, have long been demanded by statisticians and international bodies, including the IMF.

Similarly, MoSPI had in February also released the new series of the CPI with an updated base year of 2024, a more inclusive basket of items measured, and more accurate weightages. This has enabled a more realistic reading of retail inflation, a key metric in interest-rate decisions. In early June, MoSPI then released the new series of the IIP as well. The base year was updated to 2022-23 and the index’s data collection was strengthened. This, too, eventually feeds into more accurate GDP data. The other factor to be highlighted is that the data upgrades have not been limited to just MoSPI. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry also updated its WPI, releasing the new series on Monday. A more accurate WPI and CPI yield a more accurate GDP deflator, which strengthens the way that statisticians derive real GDP growth after having adjusted for inflation. The Commerce Ministry also released a new Producer Price Index (PPI), which is to replace the WPI in five years. A PPI is the standard among developed economies and provides more information about both goods and service price levels at the producer stage. With all these, the IMF is sure to improve the recurring ‘C’ grade it has given India’s national accounts data. These, it is hoped, will also be capped off by a time-bound release of the new Census with no further delays.