Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India can increase its exports to $1 trillion in FY 2026-27 with a 15-16% growth from last FY’s levels, when the country’s exports had clocked over $863 billion.Speaking at the release of LEADS report 2025 in New Delhi, the Minister said that India’s FTAs (Free Trade Agreements) signed in the past few years cover 2/3rd of the global economy, with four FTAs signed in past few years already operational (with Mauritius, UAE, Australia, and the European Free Trade Association)
The Minister noted that five more FTAs by India will be operational in the next 12 months. India’s trade pacts yet to be operationalised include those with the US, EU, UK, Oman, New Zealand. Having met Ministers from Chile and Maldives, the Minister said that trade agreements with both the countries are slated to be completed by the end of this year.
He added that India is in talks for an FTA with Canada, Israel, the 6-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, while plans are afoot to start talks for trade pacts with Mexico, South Africa-led SACU bloc, and to expand the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with the Brazil-led MERCOSUR-bloc.Stating that investment in logistics is increasing with new startups in the field, he said that the government is looking to further reduce compliance burden after notification of labour codes and Jan Vishwas.Noting that many geographies have social welfare overtaking their ability to provide manpower to their factories, the Minister said that “Indians don’t flinch an eyelid working 7 days a week,” compared to many geographies where people don’t want to work that hard.Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for austerity, he said that “several ill-informed people on the social media” didn’t understand what the PM meant, noting that when the PM talks of reducing leisure travel overseas, it’s an effort to promote domestic tourism to generate jobs for Indians.He pointed out that the call doesn’t mean that one doesn’t “go abroad for businesses, or stop engaging with the world on multilateral platforms for trade agreements.”Also Read: Metropolis Healthcare Q4 profit zooms 2x on higher revenue, margins; declares dividend
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