New Delhi
The report highlighted that India’s trade growth with FTA partners has far outpaced its overall merchandise trade growth with the rest of the world, which increased by 41.5% during the same period.
Analysts attribute this surge to India’s shift from a traditionally defensive trade policy to a more growth-oriented strategy focused on countries with strong trade complementarities.
According to the report, India’s recent trade agreements are not speculative deals but are based on existing and rapidly expanding trade corridors that gained momentum during the post-COVID economic recovery. “India’s recent FTAs are not speculative exercises. They are rooted in trade corridors that were already growing rapidly during the post-COVID recovery,” the report noted.
The study also forecasts that India’s trade with countries with which it has signed FTAs since 2021 is expected to more than double by 2030. This projected growth will likely be driven by deeper tariff reductions, improved services provisions, and increasing investments that could expand productive capacity across multiple sectors.
India’s trade strategy has increasingly focused on partners where economic interests are aligned, logistics networks are efficient, and trade complementarities already exist. Instead of creating entirely new trade relationships, New Delhi has prioritised strengthening ties with countries where bilateral trade was already expanding.
As a result, the share of FTA partners in India’s total trade basket has risen significantly—from about 11–12 per cent in FY21 to nearly 16.5 per cent in FY25. The report described this shift as a deliberate strategy to prioritise economies with high trade intensity and strong alignment with India’s strengths in sectors such as manufacturing, energy processing, pharmaceuticals, services, and investment-led growth.
The report also highlighted the importance of India’s FTA with the United Kingdom signed in 2025. The agreement has improved market access for Indian businesses, addressed barriers in services and professional mobility, and strengthened investment linkages in areas such as technology, finance, advanced manufacturing, and clean energy.
