Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will meet exporters on Wednesday upon his return from Europe to discuss the current situation in international trade and ways to increase shipments from India in the face of multiple challenges.
Apart from trade-related issues, discussions are expected to be on the status of different trade agreements that India is negotiating. Exporters are facing contraction in demand from their biggest market, the US, since the 50% additional tariffs on Indian exports came into force on August 27.
Due to additional tariffs, India’s exports to the US in September declined 12% year-on-year to $5.46 billion. Exporters are seeking support from the government to keep their competitiveness intact in the US market till a trade agreement between the two countries is finalised.
Other than the US, the government is in discussion with the exporting community to explore newer markets and sell more to other key markets. During April-September this year, merchandise exports increased 3.02% to $220.12 billion, while imports rose 4.53% to $375.11 billion.