Lok Sabha Question No. 3768 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-12
Subject: Progress in Trade Deal Negotiations
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: Shri Naveen Jindal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3768 ANSWERED ON 12/08/2025

## PROGRESS IN TRADE DEAL NEGOTIATIONS

3768.  SHRI NAVEEN JINDAL

Will the Minister of COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY ( वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्री ) be pleased to state:

- (a) the progress made in the negotiations of trade agreements with various countries and the expected benefits of these agreements;
- (b) the  measures being taken to address the significant trade imbalance with  certain countries and the Government's perspective on the impact of these trade imbalances; and
- (c) the Government's assessment of the impact of trade wars and geopolitical tensions on India's  trade  and  commerce  sector and  the measures  being  taken to  mitigate these risks?

## ANSWER

वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्रालय में राज्यमंत्री ( श्री णिणिन प्रसाद

)

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

- (a)       The  Department  of  Commerce  is  engaging  in  negotiations  and  reviews  on  trade agreements on an ongoing basis. During the last five years, the Government has signed the following trade agreements:-

|   Sl. No. | Name of the Agreement                                                                  | Date of Signing of the Agreement   | Date of Implementation of the Agreement   |
|-----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
|         1 | India - Mauritius Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) | 22 nd February, 2021               | 1 st April, 2021                          |
|         2 | India-UAE CEPA                                                                         | 18 th February, 2022               | 1 st May 2022                             |
|         3 | India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (Ind-Aus ECTA)                | 2 nd April, 2022                   | 29 December 2022.                         |

|   4 | India-European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA)   | 10 March 2024   | Will be implemented after completion of ratification process by India and the EFTA countries.   |
|-----|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   5 | India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)                                     | 24 July 2025    | Will be implemented after completion of ratification process by both sides.                     |

A list of  ongoing negotiations is given at Annexure.

Free  Trade  Agreements  (FTAs)  are  entered  into  with  the  concerned  trading  partner countries  primarily  with  the  aim  to  increase  the  bilateral  trade  and  economic  growth  by enlarging  the  scope  of  market  access  and  building  on  the  trade  complementarities  for increasing trade and investment, thereby providing enhanced export potential, generating benefits for industry, farmers, MSMEs and creating job opportunities. FTAs are negotiated with  the  endeavour  to  deliver  a  comprehensive,  balanced,  broad-based  and  equitable agreement based on the principle of fairness and reciprocity. It also ensures a level playing field for Indian exporters vis-a-vis their competitors in the trading partner countries.

(b) & (c)          The Government has taken various proactive measures aimed at enhancing domestic  capacities,  boosting  exports,  diversifying  supply  chains,  exploring  alternate sources of imports and fostering economic resilience including mitigating  adverse impact on  trade,  if  any,  due  to  global  factors.  Several  key  initiatives  and  policy  measures undertaken by the Government to boost exports, attract investments and to promote ease of doing business from time to time are as follows-

- i. The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is implementing International Cooperation (IC) Scheme,  under  which  financial assistance is provided on reimbursement  basis  to  the  eligible  Central/State  Government  organizations  and Industry  Associations  to  facilitate  visit/participation  of  MSMEs  in  the  international exhibitions/fairs/buyer-seller  meets  held  abroad  and  for  organizing  international conference/seminar/workshops  in  India  with  the  aim  of  technology  upgradation, modernization, joint venture etc. A new component of IC Scheme namely Capacity Building of First Time Exporters (CBFTE) has been launched in June 2022, under which reimbursement is provided to new Micro & Small Enterprises (MSE) exporters for costs incurred on Registration-cum- Membership Certification (RCMC) with EPCs, Export Insurance Premium and Testing & Quality Certification for exports.
- ii. Other schemes/programmes implemented by the Ministry of MSME include Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGTMSE),  Micro  &  Small  Enterprises-Cluster  Development  Programme  (MSECDP), SFURTI, ZED, Incubator, LEAN, IPR, Procurement and Marketing Scheme (PMS) also assist MSMEs in boosting their export competitiveness.
- iii. The Rebate of State and Central Levies and Taxes (RoSCTL) Scheme to promote labour- oriented certain items of textiles sector export has been implemented since March 07, 2019.
- iv. Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme has been implemented since April 01, 2021.  The budget allocation for RoDTEP Scheme for the  current  financial  year  2025-26  is  Rs.  18,232.50  crores.  The  benefits  of  the RoDTEP scheme have been extended to exports from Domestic Tariff Area (DTA) units till September 30, 2025.
- v. A Common Digital Platform for Certificate of Origin has been launched to facilitate trade and increase Free Trade Agreement (FTA) utilization by exporters.
- vi. Districts  as  Export  Hubs initiative  had  been launched by identifying products with export potential in each district, addressing bottlenecks for exporting these products and supporting local exporters/manufacturers to generate employment in the district.
- vii. The government has launched Trade Connect ePlatform on 11 September 2024. Trade Connect ePlatform is an information and intermediation platform on international  trade  bringing  together  Indian  Missions  Abroad  and  officials  from Department  of  Commerce  and  other  organizations  to  provide  comprehensive services for both new and existing exporters.

The Department of Commerce (DoC) is continuously engaged with all stakeholders, including industry, to advance trade and mitigate the impact of trade wars. DOC aims to promote trade and economic growth through trade promotion, FTAs,  trade facilitation and remedial measures related to import and export.

For the growth of India's trade and commerce sector and to protect the interests of the domestic industry, including farmers, MSMEs, FTAs provide for maintaining sensitive, negative or exclusion lists of items on which limited or no tariff concessions are granted.  In case of surge in imports and injury to the domestic industry, a country is allowed to take recourse  to  trade  remedial  measures  such  as  anti-dumping  and  safeguards  on  imports within the period as mutually agreed to by the parties under the FTAs.

FTAs  include  provisions  on  Technical  Barriers  to  Trade  to  promote  mutual understanding of each sides' standards, technical regulations, and measures to enhance transparency. FTAs are addressing non-technical barriers, thereby facilitating smoother and more effective access to export markets for Indian goods. FTAs include sub-committees for review to align with emerging global requirements.

*****

## Annexure

|   Sl. No. | Name of the Agreements Ongoing                                                             |
|-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|         1 | India - Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (Expansion of Ind-Aus ECTA) |
|         2 | India-European Union Free Trade Agreement                                                  |
|         3 | India-Sri Lanka Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement                              |
|         4 | India - Peru Free Trade Agreement                                                          |
|         5 | India-Chile Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement                                   |
|         6 | India and New Zealand Free Trade Agreement                                                 |
|         7 | India and USA Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA)                                              |
|         8 | ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) (Review)                                     |
|         9 | India-Korea CEPA (Review)                                                                  |