India's import duties are in compliance with the global trade rules and the government should convey this to the US administration, economic think tank GTRI said on March 2, 2025. It also said that negotiating a comprehensive free trade agreement with the US presents several challenges. The US may push India to open government procurement to American firms, reduce agricultural subsidies, weaken patent protections by allowing evergreening, and remove restrictions on data flows, it said, adding India has resisted these demands for decades and is still not prepared to accept.
Source: The Economic Times
With India and the EU setting the yearend deadline to conclude a free trade agreement, teams from both sides held discussions on March 1, 2025 to accelerate efforts towards a balanced and mutually beneficial pact. The meeting was held between Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic in Mumbai along with officials from both sides.
Source: The Economic Times
Central government-owned major ports have seen a growth of just 3.14 per cent during the ongoing financial year 2025 (FY25) so far, dragged down by a 19 per cent drop in iron ore cargo and falling crude oil consignments. This is despite a pick-up in maritime trade late in the financial year. Major ports bounced back from the Covid 19 induced slowdown in maritime activity with a 7 per cent growth in the financial year 2022 (FY22), followed by 9 per cent in FY23 and 4.4 per cent growth in FY23 and 4.4 per cent growth in FY24, ministry of ports shipping and waterways data shows.
Source: Business Standard
India’s manufacturing activity eased to a 14-month low of 56.3 in February from 57.7 in the previous month, data released by S&P Global on March 3, 2025, showed. The drop was attributed to mild loss of momentum in new orders and production. The manufacturing PMI is still indicative of a further robust improvement in the health of the sector.
Source: Financial Express
The central government is considering linking incentives to metrics beyond incremental sales such as domestic value addition and incremental exports, with the first phase of the PLI scheme gaining traction.
The PLI scheme, since its launch in April 2020, has covered 14 sectors and has helped India achieve scale in manufacturing by attracting OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) as well as contract manufacturers in designated sectors. With the first phase of the PLI scheme seen to have enabled a directional pivot in favour of manufacturing, the current debate is on using the gains of the first phase as an inflection point for PLI 2.0.
Source: Financial Express
Non-tariff measures being announced by developed economies such as European Union's carbon tax and deforestation regulation limit market access for Indian goods in those markets, a senior government official said on March 4, 2025. Addressing a post Budget webinar, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi said that the other challenges before Indian exports include insufficient integration with global value chains, high import duties, technology disadvantage, and high cost of logistics (about 8-9 per cent of GDP against 5-6 per cent in developed nations). He added that the export window is also narrowing because of aggressive industrial policies of advanced nations like USA's Inflation Reduction Act and Chips Act, and UK's advanced manufacturing plan.
Source: The Economic Times
The Tamil Nadu govt will release a new textile policy within ten days, minister for handlooms and textiles R Gandhi said in Coimbatore on March 4, 2025. The minister, along with minister for electricity, prohibition and excise V Senthil Balaji, inaugurated a five-day programme on entrepreneurship development in technical textiles under the National Technical Textile Mission (NTTM) of the ministry of textiles. The event, organised in association with the Tamil Nadu department of textiles, took place at the South India Textile Research Association (SITRA).
Source: The Times of India
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) expects Turkiye’s economy to grow by 3 per cent in 2025—unchanged from its September 2024 forecast—and then by 3.5 per cent in 2026.
The forecasts were published recently in the bank’s Regional Economic Prospects report, which indicates that tighter monetary and fiscal policies have led to a significant reduction in inflation and improvements in the country’s external position, with net exports rising and current account deficit declining steadily.
However, the report warns against premature loosening of policy measures, with continued high inflation, geopolitical uncertainties and the impact of the real appreciation of the Turkish lira on export competitiveness all posing downside risks to the economy, an EBRD release said.
Source: Fibre2fashion
Manufacturing conditions across the ASEAN region experienced their strongest improvement in seven months during February, according to the latest S&P Global ASEAN Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).
The index rose to 51.5 from 50.4 in January, marking continued monthly gains since the start of 2024.
Manufacturing output increased at its fastest pace since July 2023. Employment levels expanded at an accelerated rate. Business confidence soared to a 22-month high. New orders saw a solid and quicker uptick, driving production growth.
Source: Fibre2fashion
