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Trade Agreements
India and Qatar on Thursday held discussions on ways to boost bilateral trade and strengthen supply chain resilience, which has been disrupted due to the West Asia crisis. The meeting was held between Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Trade Affairs Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Sayed. "We discussed ways to further enhance our bilateral trade and investment ties while strengthening supply chain resilience. Looking forward to deepening our strategic partnership in the times ahead," Goyal said in a post on social media. Both had virtual interaction. The bilateral trade between the countries stood at USD 14 billion in 2024-25. Both sides have aimed at doubling it by 2030. They are also looking at negotiating a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). Goyal recently discussed trade and supply chain related issues with trade ministers of other GCC members also. It included Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait. All these countr
India is working to expand the preferential trade agreement with South-American nation bloc Mercosur to further promote trade and investment between the two regions, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday. Mercosur is a trade bloc in Latin America comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. The India-Mercosur PTA came into effect on June 1, 2009. This PTA has limited coverage and contains only 450 tariff lines or products. Both sides are looking at expanding the scope of this pact to a full-fledged agreement. "The Mercosur region is particularly important for us, and we are working to expand our India-Mercosur preferential trade agreement, to improve market access, to grow investments on both sides, to have technology partnerships, and to engage in sports, education, culture," he said here at Ficci's India-Brazil Business Forum. The minister also said that the bilateral trade between India and Brazil is growing, but it is "sub-optimal". It grew by 25
A three-day meeting between Indian and American officials to finalise the legal text for an interim trade agreement will begin in the US on February 23, an official said on Friday. Earlier this month, India and the US released a joint statement to announce that a framework for an interim trade agreement has been finalised. The joint statement lays down the contours of the deal. Now, the contours of the deal have to be translated into a legal agreement, which will be signed between the two sides. It is expected to be signed in March. The Indian and the US team will start their three-day meeting from Monday, the official said. Indian team will be headed by chief negotiator Darpan Jain, who is a joint secretary in the Commerce Ministry. Under the interim trade pact, both sides would extend duty concessions to each other on a number of goods traded between them. The US has announced that it will reduce the reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods from 25 per cent to 18 per cent. It has alr
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that India has committed to stop buying Russian oil, days after New Delhi reiterated that "national interests" will be the "guiding factor" for India's energy procurement. US President Donald Trump, while announcing a trade deal with New Delhi early in February, claimed India had agreed to not procure crude oil from Russia. Since then, the US has claimed multiple times that India will stop buying oil from Russia. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Rubio said, "In our conversations with India, we've gotten their commitment to stop buying additional Russian oil." Rubio was responding to a question on the Russia-Ukraine war and the sanctions imposed on Moscow. After announcing the deal, in an executive order, Trump rolled back an additional 25 per cent tariffs on India that he imposed in August last for India's procurement of crude oil from Russia. Earlier, India had said that it would maintain multiple sources for crud
The finalisation of a framework for signing a trade pact between India and the US has provided an immediate certainty and predictability to domestic exporters at the tariff front, experts say. As per the framework, the US will reduce reciprocal tariffs on India to 18 per cent from 25 per cent. The US has already removed the additional 25 per cent punitive tariff which it imposed on India for buying Russian crude. They said that the tariff on India is the lowest compared to its competitor nations such as China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Rudra Kumar Pandey- Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas Co, said the framework provides much-needed operational clarity on the recent tariff rationalisation. The framework explicitly confirms that a reciprocal tariff rate of 18 per cent will apply across several key Indian export sectors, including textiles and apparel, leather and footwear, plastics and rubber, organic chemicals, home decor, artisanal products, and selected machinery ...