Union Minister Piyush Goyal Discusses Trade Reforms and FTA Opportunities with Industry Stakeholders

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) organized a stakeholder workshop on 'Ease of Doing Business', Free Trade Agreement (FTA) opportunities, and trade-related reforms at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasad participated in an interactive session with industry representatives.

During the dialogue, Union Minister Piyush Goyal shared the government's vision to strengthen export facilitation through both physical and digital mechanisms. He explained the concept of establishing integrated commerce and industry offices in major cities to provide businesses with a single common hub to access various departments and agencies. Additionally, he announced a proposed network of approximately 1,000 trained local personnel with knowledge of regional languages to assist exporters at the district and state levels.

To further facilitate exporters, Mr. Goyal provided information about the 'Trade Connect' platform. This platform is being developed to provide product-wise and HSN-code-wise information, including tariffs of destination countries, FTA opportunities, and the processes for obtaining benefits. It includes provisions to identify potential export opportunities and infrastructure gaps using digital and AI-enabled tools.

During the workshop, representatives from the roller chain and industrial component manufacturing sector reported that policy interventions—such as Quality Control Orders (QCO), Minimum Import Price (MIP), and high import duties—have led to a 15-fold expansion in this sector. This has resulted in approximately 500 crore rupees of new investment and the creation of around 5,000 new jobs.

The event saw participation from representatives of various sectors, including pharmaceuticals, textiles, automotive, engineering, and logistics, as well as MSMEs and women entrepreneurs. They raised issues related to export competitiveness, trade documentation, regulatory processes, and the utilization of FTAs. Industry representatives emphasized the need for expanding systems such as the digital transmission and verification of Certificates of Origin, as well as better integration between the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Customs, and banks.

Officials from DPIIT gave presentations on reforms related to Startup India, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), investment facilitation, the National Single Window System, and the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO). The primary objective of the discussions was the simplification of regulatory processes, digitization, and the reduction of the compliance burden.