To make the country an economic power through trade agreements, officers will have to be educated and trained as per the needs of the new era and research, development and innovation will have to be increased in the government and private sectors.
India is making free trade agreements with many countries.
FTA with EU important in global trade.
Quality and logistics improvements necessary to increase exports.
Dr. Jayantilal Bhandari. In the last few years, India has moved forward on the path of free trade with many countries through Free Trade Agreements (FTA). This has increased export access for Indian goods to world markets. Last day, PM Modi said that India's FTA with Israel will soon be seen taking shape and India will soon be the third largest economy. After the US Supreme Court declared the global tariff imposed by President Trump illegal, a 15 percent temporary global tariff has been implemented on all countries including India for 150 days from February 24.
After this period, the US Parliament will decide whether to continue it further or not? The US administration still has many powers left to impose tariffs. Trump has said that after the US Parliament approves the proposal on tariffs, the trade agreement with India will be implemented in its predetermined form. In such a situation, while the temporary reduction of tariffs for the next 150 days is beneficial for increasing exports, after this, an interim trade agreement between the two countries will be beneficial for increasing exports to America.
America is the biggest market for India. In the financial year 2024-25, trade between India and America was worth $ 131.84 billion. In this financial year 2025-26, between April and December, India has exported goods worth $ 65.88 billion to America. In such a situation, the interim trade agreement with America will be important to increase Indian exports. Tariffs and trade disruptions introduced by the US have pushed India on the path of finding alternative markets and forming new trade alliances. In this context, India has signed many trade agreements last year and is preparing to implement many new trade agreements this year also.
These also include the very important Free Trade Agreement with the European Union (EU). During the recent AI Summit, many EU Heads of State supported the early implementation of the India-EU FTA on 27 January. This FTA is an unmatched example of coordination between the two largest economies of the world. This agreement has been called the mother of all trade agreements. This FTA will create a common market of two billion people, whose combined market will be equal to about a quarter of the global gross domestic product (GDP). It is anticipated that this FTA will be seen being implemented in the next six months.
The FTAs signed by India with Britain and Oman last year will be seen being implemented from this April and the FTA with New Zealand from September. Along with all this, exports will also be seen increasing this year due to the FTAs signed with Mauritius, United Arab Emirates, Australia and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), a group of four European countries. This year, new FTAs may also be signed with other major countries including Peru, Chile, ASEAN, Mexico, Canada, South Africa, Israel, India and Gulf Countries Council. In this way, this is a favorable scenario for the possibilities of increasing exports, but in view of the continuously changing attitude of the Trump administration, it would be appropriate for India to speed up the negotiations related to trade agreements with other countries.
Increasing exports from India amid global challenges is no easy task. India will have to move forward with a new export strategy. The several strategic measures taken in the Union Budget presented by the Finance Minister on February 1 to increase exports by focusing on key sectors like manufacturing, textiles, leather and seafood need to be addressed from the beginning in the new financial year. To increase exports, we will also have to pay attention to the quality of products and new improvements. Trade agreements are still historical paper documents. Their full benefits will be available only when India moves forward with new generation reforms and quality production.
With the new trade agreements, India will be successful in gaining entry into the big markets of the world, but to make the country a trading superpower, it will have to produce good quality goods at attractive rates. A report by Systematics Group said that for India to take maximum advantage of trade agreements, it will first have to move rapidly on reforms such as quality production at affordable costs, simplification of logistics and customs processes. The problems of exporters are not limited to duty increase alone.
They are also related to anti-dumping duties. Due to the high cost of domestic raw materials and high fuel prices, the products exported by India appear to cost about 20 percent more than the global level. To make the country an economic power through trade agreements, officers will have to be educated and trained as per the needs of the new era and research, development and innovation will have to be increased in the government and private sectors.
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