MAI and TMA: Market Access and Freight Assistance

MAI and TMA explained: this guide covers what it means, who it applies to, the step-by-step process, documents required, fees, due dates and penalties in India — so you can stay compliant with confidence and avoid costly mistakes.

Two schemes with opposite designs sit in the same chapter. MAI funds projects, on a cost-sharing basis, mostly through institutions. TMA reimburses freight, in cash, directly to the exporter — and is the only scheme in the FTP suite that pays money into a bank account rather than issuing a scrip.

The Market Access Initiative (MAI) provides "financial assistance to various eligible entities, including Export Promotion Councils (EPCs), Industry and Trade Associations (ITAs), and Indian Commercial Missions abroad, for undertaking export promotion activities", on a cost-sharing basis, with a focus-country and focus-product approach. The Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) scheme reimburses part of the international freight on specified agricultural exports — "in cash through direct bank transfer" — for products in HS Chapters 1 to 24.

MAI: what it funds and who can apply

Six eligible activity heads: "Capacity Building; International Marketing Projects; Project Development; Support for Statutory Compliance; Support for Cottage and Handicrafts Units; Development of a Foreign Trade Facilitation Web Portal."

Seven forms of assistance:

• (a) Market Study — "surveys for specific markets to gain in-depth analysis and develop a marketing strategy";
• (b) Showrooms and Warehouses — "in lease or rental accommodations based on the market study conducted";
• (c) Display in International Departmental Stores — collaboration with "major international stores to promote Indian products";
• (d) Brand Campaign — "intensive publicity campaigns to enhance brand identity";
• (e) Participation in Trade Fairs Abroad — "based on the focus country-product basis";
• (f) Assistance to Cottage and Handicrafts Units — including "development of a website for virtual exhibition";
• (g) Research and Product Development — "to selective exporters, EPCs, and trade promotion organizations."

Note the sequencing in (b). Showrooms and warehouses are funded "based on the market study conducted" — so the study under (a) is a practical precondition for the infrastructure under (b).

Eligible agencies span Central and State Government departments and organisations, Indian Missions abroad, Export Promotion Councils, registered Trade Promotion Organisations, Commodity Boards, apex trade bodies recognised under the FTP, recognised industrial and artisan clusters, individual exporters (for statutory compliance), national-level institutions such as the IITs, IIMs, NIDs and NIFT, research institutions, universities and recognised laboratories.

Individual exporters appear once only — "for statutory compliance, etc." MAI is otherwise an institutional scheme.

The five MAI eligibility criteria

1. Comprehensive Project — "a well-defined project plan that focuses on market access… should adopt a focus-country and focus-product approach."
2. Product Study — "A specific product in a targeted market should be thoroughly studied for a duration of two to three years to obtain optimal results."
3. Originality — "Project findings must not be duplicated or replicated by any existing organization or activity within the same field."
4. Exclusion of Previously Supported Activities — "will not provide assistance to activities that have already received funding under the Marketing Development Assistance (MDA) program."
5. Cost Sharing — "Project funding will be structured on a cost-sharing basis."

And participation is capped. "There are restrictions on the number of times an entity can avail assistance for the same event, with a general limit of three participations."

Start-ups and new exporters are separately encouraged "by providing support for activities such as airfare assistance."

TMA: cash, by container, by region

The purpose is "to address the challenges faced by Indian exporters due to elevated freight costs", particularly for products "requiring trans-shipment."

The rates, per Annexure-3:

Two features stand out. Normal cargo to China attracts nil assistance while reefer cargo attracts ₹12,600 — a deliberate targeting of perishables. And South America and North America carry the highest rates, reflecting distance and trans-shipment cost.

A forty-foot container counts as two TEUs.

The eight TMA conditions

• Only full containers. "Benefits… are not applicable to LCL containers, which are less than container loads, or vessels that contain both eligible and ineligible cargo. The TMA is also inapplicable for bulk or break-bulk shipments."
• Only EDI ports. "Exports permissible under the TMA Scheme are those made through Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Ports."
• Only where the exporter paid the freight. "FOB supplies where no freight is paid by Indian exporter, are not eligible."
• Only against free foreign exchange. "The assistance shall be admissible only if payments for the exports are received in free foreign exchange."
• Paid in cash, not scrip. "The incentive under TMA Scheme is in cash and paid through direct benefit transfer."
• Quarterly, bunched. "All claims for shipments made in a particular quarter should be bunched together and submitted as a single application", with a ₹1,000 fee per application.
• Within one year of the quarter. "if the export was made in the quarter January to March 2020, the claim should be filed by 31.03.2021." And "There are no late cut provisions applicable for this scheme."
• IEC mandatory.

Processing: "the RA of DGFT may check application, and may approve the application within 15 to 30 days", then pay if funds are available, or issue a pre-receipt letter if not.

What TMA excludes

Products. All agricultural products in HS Chapters 1 to 24 including marine and plantation products, except those in Annexure-1 — which excludes Chapters 1, 2 and 5 entirely (live animals, meat, animal products), shrimps and prawns (030617), all of Chapter 4 dairy at headings 0401 to 0406, onions and alliaceous vegetables (0703), wheat and rice (1001, 1006), all of Chapters 13 and 14, raw sugar and molasses (1701, 1703), and all of Chapters 22 and 24 (beverages, spirits, vinegar, tobacco).

Note the internal contradiction the Handbook records. It states that "Dairy Products Inclusion: Previously excluded, dairy products are now eligible" under the revised scheme, while Annexure-1 excludes headings 0401 to 0406. The annexure and the narrative are in conflict, and the operative position must be checked against the current public notice.

Categories excluded — exports from SEZs, EOUs, EHTPs, STPs, BTPs and FTWZs, and their products exported through DTA units; export of imported goods under para 2.46 FTP; trans-shipment exports originating in a third country; restricted or prohibited items under Schedule-2 of the Export Policy; and export through courier or foreign post offices using e-Commerce.

On duration, the Handbook is internally inconsistent — it states both that "the latest version applicable to exports affected on or after April 1, 2021, and expiring on March 31, 2022" and that "The Scheme is available from 01.03.2019 to 31.03.2021." Either way the period recorded has ended, and current availability must be verified with DGFT before any claim is planned.

E-commerce, and where MAI supports it

The digital-economy chapter connects back to MAI. E-Commerce Export Hubs (ECEH) are "Created to provide favorable infrastructure for cross-border e-commerce", may be set up "by private initiative or in PPP mode", and provide "storage, packaging, testing, dedicated logistics connections, and support for both restricted and general goods."

And their entitlement is MAI itself: "ECEHs can access MAI scheme support for marketing, capacity building, and technological services (e.g. imaging, cataloguing, video creation)."

The other e-commerce provisions: export via courier or post allowed at a maximum value of ₹10 lakh per consignment (raised from ₹5 lakh by FTP 2023); export of precious metal jewellery via e-commerce permitted, including re-import of returned goods; Dak Niryat Kendras operating "as hubs connected with Foreign Post Offices, facilitating artisans, MSMEs, and businesses in remote areas"; and promotion through the Niryat Bandhu Scheme.

Key takeaways

• MAI funds institutions — EPCs, ITAs, Missions, commodity boards, IITs and IIMs — on a cost-sharing basis, with a general limit of three participations per event.
• Its criteria: a focus-country, focus-product project, a two-to-three-year product study, originality, no overlap with MDA funding, and cost sharing.
• TMA reimburses international freight on HS Chapters 1 to 24 exports, in cash by direct bank transfer — uniquely among the FTP schemes.
• Rates run ₹5,600 to ₹23,800 per TEU, higher for reefer, and per kg by air; China normal cargo is nil; a 40-foot container is two TEUs.
• TMA needs full containers, EDI ports, freight actually paid by the exporter, and receipt in free foreign exchange — FOB, LCL, bulk and break-bulk are excluded.
• Claims are quarterly and bunched, ₹1,000 per application, within one year of the quarter, with no late cut.
• Annexure-1 excludes Chapters 1, 2, 5, 13, 14, 22 and 24 entirely, plus dairy, shrimps, onions, wheat, rice, raw sugar and molasses — though the Handbook's dairy position is internally inconsistent.
• The TMA period recorded in the Handbook has ended — verify current availability with DGFT.
• E-Commerce Export Hubs draw on MAI; the courier export limit is ₹10 lakh per consignment.

Read next

• Interest Equalisation Scheme for Export Credit
• RoDTEP: E-Scrips and the Annual RoDTEP Return
• SCOMET Export Controls and the Catch-All Provision

Disclaimer: Positions stated as on 5 September 2026, based on the Market Access Initiative Scheme guidelines, the Transport and Marketing Assistance Scheme (DGFT Public Notice No. 82/2015-20 dated 29 March 2019 and its revisions) and Chapter 9 of the Foreign Trade Policy 2023, as reproduced in the ICAI Handbook on Foreign Trade Policy – Incentives, Schemes & Related FAQs (November 2025, 2nd Edition). The Handbook records inconsistent positions on TMA's duration and on dairy eligibility; current availability should be verified with the DGFT.