India's first digital signature enabled department-Niryat Bandhu

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The Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on Thursday announced that it had become India's first digital signature enabled department. It also announced introduction of a new ‘Niryat Bandhu' scheme for international business mentoring for young turks in international business enterprises.

According to the new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) unveiled here, the DGFT said it had introduced a higher level of encrypted 2048 bit Digital Signature.

• Digital certificate provides a high level of security for online communication such that only intended recipient can read it. It provides authentication, privacy, non-repudiation and integrity in the virtual world.

The new policy also announced introduction of a new ‘Niryat Bandhu' scheme for mentoring first generation entrepreneurs.

• The officer (Niryat Bandhu) would function in the mentoring' arena and would be a ‘handholding' experiment for the young turks in international business enterprises. Under the scheme, officers of DGFT will be investing time and knowledge to mentor the interested individuals who want to conduct the business in a legal way.

Simplified procedure

On the issue of procedure simplification, import of radioimmunoassay kits was classified in the ‘restricted category' as per ITC HS-Import Schedule. Since the import item is intended for the diagnosis of disease/disorders in humans and animals, the import policy regime for this item is being liberalised to free subject to prior permission of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.