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A PIB Backgrounder sets out how the Districts as Export Hubs (DEH) initiative treats each district as a unit of export planning rather than only of production, building on the One District One Product concept.
DEH is run by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade under the Department of Commerce, and covered more than 770 districts as on January 2026; draft District Export Action Plans existed for 590 districts as of March 2026, of which 249 had been formally adopted.
It carries no separate outlay of its own — it is a convergence framework that routes existing central and state scheme funding towards district-level export bottlenecks.
A focused, outcome-oriented phase began on 1 June 2026 covering districts across 27 States and Union Territories, supported by 24 DGFT Regional Authorities and 11 partner agencies.
India's total exports of goods and services touched an all-time high of US$ 825.25 billion in 2024-25 and an estimated US$ 863.11 billion in 2025-26.
Anchors DEH implementation, facilitates stakeholder coordination and monitors progress; the principal agency administering India's Foreign Trade Policy. Established in 1991 as the successor to the Chief Controller of Imports & Exports (CCI&E), reflecting the shift from control of trade to facilitation of it.
Provides overall policy direction for DEH and owns India's export promotion architecture
The state-level tier of DEH — guides implementation and ensures convergence across state departments
The district-level tier — identifies export opportunities, resolves local challenges, coordinates with industry and exporters, and prepares and adopts the District Export Action Plan (DEAP)
An ecosystem partner in DEH outreach; provides export credit insurance covering the risk of exporting on credit. Set up in July 1957 (originally as the Export Risks Insurance Corporation) and under the ownership of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
DEH partner for grassroots export ecosystem building; set up in 1982 by an Act of Parliament to finance, facilitate and promote India's foreign trade. Its Grassroots Initiatives for Development (GRID) programme supports rural enterprises, artisans and producer groups with skill training, certification, design and market advisory.
Apex export promotion bodies named as DEH ecosystem partners in capacity-building and outreach programmes, alongside the Ministry of MSME and India Post
The DEAP is the operational output of the DEPC and the document that turns DEH from an intention into a plan. Each DEAP maps the products and services in the district that have export potential, assesses the infrastructure and logistics available to move them, identifies the specific bottlenecks holding exports back — testing facilities, packaging, certification, freight access, awareness of procedures — and recommends interventions to improve competitiveness and market access. Because DEH carries no money of its own, the DEAP's recommendations are then met by converging existing central and state schemes onto those gaps. As of March 2026, drafts existed for 590 districts and 249 had been formally adopted by their DEPCs — the gap between the two numbers is the measure of how far the framework has actually travelled.
Simple Analogy: A DEAP is a district's export health check-up: the diagnosis lists what the district could sell abroad and what is stopping it, and the prescription is written to be filled from schemes that already exist rather than from a new budget line.
| Aspect | One District One Product (ODOP) | Districts as Export Hubs (DEH) |
|---|---|---|
| Core idea | Select, brand and promote one distinctive product from each district | Treat the whole district as a unit of export planning, not merely of production |
| Origin | Began as a Uttar Pradesh state initiative in 2018, built around Moradabad's brass industry, then scaled nationally | Built on the ODOP concept and expanded by the Department of Commerce through DGFT into a full export-ecosystem framework |
| Scope | Product identification and branding | Product mapping plus quality standards, logistics, digital export routes, capacity building and market access |
| Money | Promotion and branding support | No separate outlay — a convergence framework drawing on ongoing central and state schemes |
| District machinery | Product selection | DEPC prepares and adopts a District Export Action Plan; SEPC coordinates at state level |
India's governing trade policy framework, announced on 31 March 2023 and effective from 1 April 2023
Key: Unlike earlier policies it carries no fixed five-year end date and is designed to be updated as needed. It rests on four pillars — incentive to remission, export promotion through collaboration, ease of doing business, and emerging areas. Administered by DGFT.
Identify and promote one distinctive product per district, converting local identity into economic opportunity
Key: Inaugurated by the Government of Uttar Pradesh on 24 January 2018 across the state's 75 districts before being taken up nationally; DEH is its expansion from product promotion into full export-ecosystem strengthening.
Hand-holding and mentorship for first-time exporters and MSMEs
Key: Launched in October 2011 under the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14 and run by DGFT, whose officers act as 'Niryat Bandhus' conducting workshops on export documentation, customs procedure, foreign exchange and trade finance. 'Niryat Bandhu @ Your Desktop', an online certificate programme, was launched in September 2015.
A single-window digital platform linking exporters to the institutions that can help them
Key: Launched on 11 September 2024 by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, developed with the Ministry of MSME, EXIM Bank, the Department of Financial Services and the Ministry of External Affairs. It connects over 6 lakh IEC holders with 180-plus Indian Mission officials abroad and 600-plus Export Promotion Council officials, and carries information on overseas trade events and FTA benefits.
Catalyse exports on a sustained basis through focus-country, focus-product financial assistance
Key: Launched in 2003 and administered by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry through DGFT. Support goes to Export Promotion Councils, trade promotion organisations, industry and trade associations, state government agencies and Indian commercial missions abroad, on a cost-sharing basis, for overseas marketing, trade fairs, market studies and compliance.
Build export ecosystems in selected districts through sector-specific interventions
Key: Under a DGFT–EXIM Bank partnership, six districts — Anantapur, Raipur, Solan, Tiruppur, Kanpur and Kolhapur — have been selected for support; the programme identifies constraints and beneficiaries and designs district-specific interventions.
Low-cost postal export facilities for small exporters
Key: Operated by the Department of Posts, these centres handle documentation, packaging and small consignments, extending export access to producers far from ports. DEH also uses tie-ups with e-commerce and logistics platforms — Amazon, Shiprocket and DHL are named in the release — to give MSMEs cost-effective courier shipping options against freight rate volatility.
DEH explicitly maps GI-tagged products, agricultural clusters and toy clusters as export candidates, linking intellectual property protection under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 to trade policy.
The Ministry of MSME is a named DEH ecosystem partner; the initiative's stated aim of strengthening MSMEs ties it to cluster development and the wider MSME credit architecture.
The SEPC-DEPC structure makes DEH a Centre-State-district delivery chain, a recurring theme across schemes where the Union sets direction and states and districts execute.
DEAPs assess infrastructure and logistics bottlenecks, which links DEH to the National Logistics Policy and the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan for multimodal connectivity.
The push through Dak Ghar Niryat Kendras and courier platforms connects DEH to the FTP 2023 emphasis on e-commerce export hubs and to the payment, buyer-verification and trust issues the release flags.
GS Paper 3 > Indian Economy > External Sector, Export Promotion and Growth
General Awareness > Government Schemes and Economy
General Awareness > Trade Finance Institutions (EXIM Bank, ECGC) and Export Schemes
Export promotion architecture — FTP, DGFT, EPCs, EXIM Bank, ECGC — recurs in Prelims and in GS3 Mains external-sector questions; district-level schemes are increasingly used as Prelims material.
A DGFT-anchored framework that treats every district as a unit of export planning, converging existing central and state schemes onto district-specific export bottlenecks.
The district's export plan prepared by the DEPC — mapping exportable products, assessing logistics, identifying bottlenecks and recommending interventions.
The district-level DEH body that identifies export opportunities, resolves local challenges and prepares and adopts the DEAP.
A programme design that carries no separate budget and instead directs funding already available under other schemes towards a defined objective.
The DGFT-issued code required to import into or export from India; over 6 lakh IEC holders are linked through the Trade Connect ePlatform.