Indian exporters and industry leaders welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for micro, small and medium enterprises to leverage the country’s growing network of free trade agreements, amid calls for better implementation and practical support to turn tariff cuts into sustained export growth.
Indian exporters have backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for micro, small and medium enterprises to make better use of the country’s widening free trade agreement network, saying the pacts could help smaller firms reach new buyers and deepen their place in global supply chains.
At his Independence Day address, Modi said India had concluded trade agreements with about 40 countries since 2014 and urged MSMEs to seize opportunities abroad, particularly in textiles, machinery and pharmaceuticals. Industry groups say the message is timely, but the real test is whether firms can convert lower tariffs into sustained orders.
The Federation of Indian Export Organisations said FTAs are useful only when businesses understand how to use them. Ajay Sahai, the group’s director general, said trade agreements are more than tariff cuts and can give smaller firms a route into larger markets, better competitiveness and global value chains. He added that the benefit becomes real only when MSMEs can turn preferential access into export sales.
That gap between paper access and actual use remains a recurring concern. Business Standard has reported that India’s FTA utilisation has historically been far below that of many developed economies, underlining the need for better implementation, guidance on rules of origin and help meeting regulatory standards. Separate government and industry briefings have pointed to recent agreements with partners including the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the European Union as part of a broader push to widen market access, while also stressing that exporters need practical support to take advantage of them.
The policy backdrop is also becoming more active. The government has launched a market access support scheme to help exporters attend overseas fairs, exhibitions and buyer-seller meetings, according to The Times of India, as part of a wider export promotion drive. For MSMEs, industry representatives say the challenge is no longer just whether India can negotiate trade deals, but whether smaller firms have the information, compliance skills and market links needed to benefit from them.
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