Directorate General Of Foreign Trade ( DGFT) formulates Foreign trade Policy of country for every Five years & the same is to be followed by all Importers / Exporters. Also they publish the hand book of Procedures. Trade policy will have details of General Provisions, Incentive schemes, EPCG, SEZ, EOU provisions etc.
Any company / Individual willing to do Import / Export activities need to apply for Import -Export Code (IEC) to DGFT. There are certain exemptions like Government Departments. A company with several branches need to have only one IEC.
Items are classified into Open Category ( any body can freely import), Restricted category ( Import with Permission only), Channelised Items ( Some nominated agencies like State Trading Corporation (STC), Metals & Minerals Trading Corporation (MMTC) etc. can only import) & Banned Items ( Like Ivory etc.)
