NEW DELHI: Government is rolling out a four-pronged strategy to boost India’s exports, focusing on fast-tracking trade pact negotiations, improving ease of doing business, enhancing export competitiveness, and diversifying both exports and imports, a top official said on Thursday.The move comes in response to steep new US tariffs on Indian goods, which have triggered concerns across labour-intensive sectors, the official added, according to news agency PTI.Commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal said that with global trade facing uncertainties, the commerce ministry is focusing on four key areas:

He added that India has asked the UK to fast-track approval of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), signed on July 24, so it can take effect as soon as possible.Talks with the European Union are also being sped up. “We are fast-tracking our negotiations,” Barthwal noted.Barthwal said a significant amount of progress has been made in the proposed India–EU trade pact, with both sides aiming to conclude talks by the end of this year. Further discussions will take place at the negotiator, secretary, and minister levels.

Talks with Oman ‘very close’

Talks with Oman have already been completed, and the agreement is “very close” to signing, pending mutually decided by both countries, the secretary said.“That (trade pact with Oman) is very close in terms of signing,” he said, further adding that negotiations are also advancing with New Zealand, Peru, and Chile.With the 10-nation ASEAN bloc, review talks for the free trade agreement in goods are underway. “Yesterday we discussed how we can improve trade between India and ASEAN,” the secretary said, further adding that, “we are also focusing on increasing FTA utilisation with countries with which we have already signed these pacts.”

‘There is still no clarity on Tariffs’

The push for a clear export strategy comes amid steep US tariffs on Indian goods. A 25% additional import duty took effect on August 7, and another 25% will be added from August 27, taking the total tax to 50%. Labour-intensive sectors like chemicals, leather, footwear, gems and jewellery, and textiles have expressed serious concerns over the impact.“There are uncertainties because of these tariffs…Tariffs are getting revised…There is still no clarity about what is happening on the globe,” Barthwal said.“In this uncertain environment, we thought that let’s have a clear-cut strategy so that we can focus on our exports in a manner which is within our control…we have strategised across four pillars,” he added.

‘First approach is to focus on FTAs’

Under export promotion, he said, the ministry already runs several schemes but needs to further strengthen them.Barthwal said the government is working to reduce dependence on a few countries for imports and boost domestic sales.“First approach is to focus on our free trade agreements (FTAs),” he said, adding that the commerce ministry will fast-track efforts to improve FTA utilisation.“We are looking at saturation of FTA utilisation…It is a gradual process, but we will be focusing now more on this,” he added.The ministry has now identified 30 additional countries, apart from the 20 already targeted, for export promotion. These 50 countries together account for over 90% of India’s export basket and include Malaysia, Indonesia, Mexico, Italy, Belgium, Nigeria, Oman, and Poland.“As a strategy, we will focus on these countries. We will do more export promotion activities in these nations,” Barthwal noted.On the US tariff impact, an official said the ministry is actively engaging with stakeholders. “We know the sectors that are more exposed towards the US…we are talking to export promotion councils and trying to understand their exposure to the US,” the official said, adding that states are also exploring ways to facilitate exports.“A very high-level delegation is going from MEA (Ministry of External Affairs), and commerce will also be participating in that high-level delegation to Russia,” the official added.