Union Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal launched the National Strategic Trade Command Centre (NSTCC) at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi on October 15, 2026, in the presence of Commerce Secretary Shri Rajesh Agrawal and Director General of Foreign Trade Shri Lav Agarwal. The NSTCC is a strategic initiative developed by the Department of Commerce to strengthen monitoring, analysis and governance of India's international trade ecosystem through integrated data analytics and evidence-based decision-making.
The Command Centre provides senior policymakers with a consolidated view of India's trade performance, export promotion schemes, regulatory approvals, application processing and operational indicators. It integrates information from multiple trade-related systems to facilitate identification of emerging trends, operational bottlenecks and areas requiring policy intervention. During the launch, Minister Goyal specifically reviewed the SCOMET (Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies) dashboard and called for regular meetings of the Inter-Ministerial Committee, weekly if required, to clear the backlog of pending applications and ensure expeditious processing.
NSTCC features an integrated analytics and visualization platform with interactive dashboards covering key trade indicators, scheme performance, application pendency, processing timelines, regional trends and compliance parameters. The platform enables analysis across multiple levels including national trade performance, Regional Authorities, schemes, products, destination markets and individual applications with role-based access permissions.
In its initial phase, NSTCC integrates dashboards covering key DGFT functions including Importer Exporter Code (IEC), Advance Authorisation, Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG), Certificate of Origin (CoO), SCOMET, restricted imports and exports, and other regulatory processes. These dashboards enable monitoring of scheme utilization, processing efficiency, export obligations, trade patterns and operational performance across Regional Authorities.
The Command Centre is designed to support three key dimensions of trade governance: integrated monitoring for consolidated visibility into trade trends and operational issues; performance assessment for benchmarking schemes and authorities against defined indicators; and evidence-based policy inputs for identifying bottlenecks and supporting policy simplification. The initiative strengthens India's trade intelligence capabilities by enabling product-wise and market-wise analysis, assessment of trade agreement utilization, identification of export opportunities and monitoring of India's trade positioning in international markets.
NSTCC leverages existing digital infrastructure including DGFT systems and the Trade Connect ePlatform, with a framework for progressive integration of additional datasets from other departments and trade-related agencies. The center is envisaged to evolve into a broader whole-of-government decision-support mechanism with phased access for authorized stakeholders including relevant ministries, states, Export Promotion Councils and other institutions. Analytical capabilities will be progressively strengthened through additional data integration, automated alerts and advanced analytics.