Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal's meetings in London, focused on boosting investment ties and strengthening bilateral trade between India and the United Kingdom. Goyal is on a two-day visit to London for a series of discussions aimed at deepening economic cooperation. On the first day of his visit, Goyal met with various industry leaders to explore new opportunities. He held a meeting with Martin Gilbert, Chairperson of Revolut App, where they discussed the immense growth potential in India's fintech ecosystem. They also spoke about the importance of partnerships with global players to drive innovation and support the sector's expansion. Goyal interacted with members of the Indian business delegation over dinner. The discussions centered around the strong growth of Indian industries and explored avenues for greater collaboration with the UK for mutual prosperity.
Source: The Economic Times
Trade between India and Pakistan has significantly decreased since the Pulwama attack. Both nations have imposed trade restrictions, impacting exports and imports. The government is collating data to figure out the quantum of indirect exports of Indian goods to Pakistan from third countries in a bid to check such rerouting of shipments to the neighbouring country, sources said. The government is working with the industry to look into alternate routes for shipments of goods through air route in the backdrop of Pakistan closing its air space for Indian carriers, they said Goods like flowers, fruits and vegetables are exported through air routes to regions like Middle Eastern countries. These restrictions have been imposed following the terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam last week. 26 people were killed in the horrific incident, evoking a sharp response from the government. The export data is being collected from sources like customs, export promotion councils and other departments, the sources added. According to the economic think tank GTRI, Indian goods worth over USD 10 billion are reaching Pakistan every year indirectly through ports, such as Dubai, Singapore, and Colombo, bypassing trade restrictions.
India's exports to Pakistan in April-January 2024-25 stood at USD 447.65 million, while imports were meagre USD 0.42 million. Exports and imports in 2023-24 were USD 1.18 billion and USD 2.88 million, respectively.
Source: The Economic Times
India and the UK are edging closer to finalizing their Free Trade Agreement (FTA), with visa provisions becoming one of the focal points of the discussions. As negotiations reach their final stages, the UK has confirmed that the new deal will only introduce limited changes to its visa regime. The UK’s concession will see around 100 additional business mobility visas for Indian workers annually, a UK official told POLITICO. However, the scope of these changes remains narrow, with only temporary business mobility visas being part of the agreement. Other visa categories, such as student visas, will not be included in the deal. The UK government informed the House of Lords in March that the negotiations cover only business mobility visas, which are limited, temporary, and intended for specific purposes, such as inter-company transfers. These provisions aim to facilitate UK exporters in delivering services abroad but do not address broader immigration or student visa issues, as clarified by Lord Sonny Leong, the Government Whip in the Lords. “Our negotiations consider only business mobility, so they cover only relevant business visas, which are, by their nature, limited, temporary and for specific purposes. In parallel with the visa discussions, India’s chief trade negotiator, Piyush Goyal, is expected to press the UK for additional concessions when he visits London this week. One of his key demands is to allow Indian firms to recover contributions made to the UK’s state pension system by workers on short-term visas, a provision already available to other countries. Additionally, India is seeking carve-outs from the UK’s carbon border tax, which could impose high duties on Indian exports like steel, cement, and aluminum, raising concerns about the potential impact on Indian businesses. During recent talks in New Delhi, UK Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and India’s The UK and India resumed FTA negotiations in February 2022, with business mobility visas being a key topic of discussion. The UK aims to boost trade with India by making it easier for businesses to operate across borders and creating opportunities for both countries to benefit economically. Despite these encouraging signs, the negotiations remain complex, with both sides needing to balance political considerations with economic interests. India, while cautiously optimistic, has expressed a desire for a comprehensive deal that reflects its long-term trade priorities. The outcome of the talks could reshape the future of India-UK trade relations, benefiting businesses on both sides while ensuring fair terms for workers and industries.
Source: The Economic Times
Uttar Pradesh is working on a policy to promote exports and triple the outbound shipment from the state to over Rs 5 lakh crore in the next five years by tapping new markets and products. To achieve the target, the state government is working on a new export policy for 2025-30 which is expected to be approved soon. The thrust of the new policy would be to increase exports three times by 2030 from Rs 1.7 lakh crore in 2023-24 through host of measures including capital subsidy and sops for exporters, UP Minister for Industrial Development and Export Promotion Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi said. "We have extensively studied export policies of various governments across the country and have incorporated best practices in the draft policy. Our aim is to increase UP's contribution in the country's overall exports substantially and the proposed policy will be a step in that direction," he said. The new policy also seeks to provide sops like capital subsidy to investors for developing export infrastructure and proposes setting up a one-stop digital information hub which may provide all relevant information to exporters. For example, he said, the proposed policy seeks to provide up to Rs 10 crore as capital subsidy to investors to build export infrastructure. A dedicated export promotion fund will be set up, which will be used for promoting Brand UP at global conferences and will also provide aid of up to Rs 5 lakh to exporters towards payment of yearly premium under Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC), he said. It also plans to increase aid to each exporting unit to Rs 25 lakh every year as against Rs 16 lakh in the current policy. The new policy is expected to incentivise exporters by up to Rs 30 lakh every year towards transport of goods to gateway port. During 2023-24, UP's share in the country's total export was 4.71 per cent. Exports from Uttar Pradesh stood at Rs 1.70 lakh crore. In the first half of last financial year exports from the state were Rs 87,151 crore.
Source: The Economic Times
India and the UK met to push forward free trade agreement talks. Piyush Goyal and Jonathan Reynolds aimed to boost the negotiations. The FTA is nearly complete, but some issues remain. These include financial services and the UK's carbon border plan. Britain wants more access to India's services sector. Both countries want to double trade in goods in ten years. India and the UK on Monday held discussions to advance negotiations on the free trade agreement (FTA). Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, who is on a two-day visit to London, said he held a "productive" meeting with UK's Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Jonathan Reynolds, to give an impetus to the talks, which are in their advanced stages.
Source: The Economic Times
India's industrial output grew 3% year-on-year in March, data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Monday showed. Industrial output grew at a revised 2.7% in February, compared to the initially released 2.9% growth. The growth on an annual basis in March was down from 5.5 per cent in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal, mainly due to poor performance of manufacturing, mining and power sectors. Economists polled by Reuters were expecting a growth of 3.3%. Industrial output grew at a revised 2.7% in February, compared to the initially released 2.9% growth. Manufacturing output advanced 3% in March against 2.8% in the previous month, while electricity generation grew 6.3% from 3.6% in February. Mining activity rose 0.4% from 1.6% a month ago, the data showed. Industrial output increased 4% in the April-March period, slowing down from 5.9% in the year-ago period. The factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), rose by 5.5 per cent in March 2024, the data showed. Power output also slowed to 6.3 per cent in March 2025 against 8.6 per cent in the year-ago period.
Source: The Economic Times
At a recent meeting, Indian yarn exporters explored various alternative options such as shipping in containers, using inland waterways, etc. Following the closure of three land ports between Bangladesh and India, India textile mills have been looking for alternative modes of transport. They have also urged the Indian government to communicate with Bangladesh, as almost 30% of India's yarn export travelled through land ports, says The Hindu.At a recent meeting, Indian yarn exporters explored various alternative options such as shipping in containers, using inland waterways, etc. They also had meetings with buyers in Bangladesh. "The problem in sending the goods in containers by sea is the lead time. Even now, 70% of the Indian yarn to Bangladesh goes by sea. Those who exported through land ports will also use the sea now. There are smaller ships that go from Kolkata. The possibility of sending in those ships needs to be explored," said Siddhartha Rajagopal, executive director of the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council.According to K. Selvaraju, secretary general of the Southern India Mills' Association, nearly 45% of India's yarn exports are to Bangladesh. India used to export over 100 million kg of yarn totally a month. Now, it is just about 90 million kg. China and Bangladesh were the main markets for Indian yarn. In recent years, China's imports of Indian yarn have reduced substantially. If the 30% exports to Bangladesh are affected, the yarn will come for domestic consumption and bring down the prices. The domestic textile value chain will be impacted, says The Hindu.Currently, textile mills in the northern States are affected because of the closure of the land ports. However, if the situation does not improve, the India's entire textile spinning sector will be affected, he said.
Source: The Business Standard
The government plans to convert some of the country's defunct jute, sugar, and textile mills into economic zones to better utilise idle land and infrastructure and attract investment for industrial growth. The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) governing board met on 13 October, with Board President and Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus presiding, to discuss strategies for repurposing closed state-owned industrial enterprises as economic zones.According to meeting sources, Beza plans to initially convert three such entities — Karim Jute Mills Ltd in Dhaka, Kushtia Sugar Mills Ltd, and Mohini Textile Mills Ltd in Kushtia This initiative is part of a wider effort to identify and transform other non-operational state-run factories into economic zones, sources said. Earlier, Beza Executive Chairman Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun had shared this plan with journalists.
All jute mills under the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) are currently shut down. Citing financial losses and labour unrest, the government halted production at 25 BJMC-run mills at a time in July 2020. In December 2020, the Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) announced the closure of six state-owned sugar mills. These mills were shut down due to significant financial losses and plans for modernisation to improve their viability. Specific data on the number of closed state-owned textile mills is not readily available. However, reports indicate that around 23 mills under the Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation (BTMC) have been non-operational, with some being leased to private entities or repurposed for other uses. At an event in January, Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin said that the interim government plans to lease out some of the closed jute and textile mills to private entrepreneurs. "Although around 50 of such mills remain non-operational, three have already been handed over to private investors, with several more in the process of being transferred," he said. According to people concerned, these long-shuttered state-owned enterprises are now facing structural decay due to the lack of modern technology, reduced market demand, and various management issues. The land and infrastructure of these mills, located in historically industrial zones, are not being used for new industrial or economic activities, despite being highly suitable for such purposes and in demand among investors.
Source: The Business Standard
The United Kingdom imported £57.1 billion (~$76 billion) worth goods from the United States last year—9.7 per cent of all goods imports and a 2-per cent decrease year on year (YoY)—and exported £59.3 billion (~$79 billion) worth goods there—16.2 per cent of all goods exports and a 3.7-per cent YoY decrease, according to the UK Office of National Statistics (ONS). The latter was the former’s largest export partner and third-largest import partner (behind Germany and China) for goods last year, an ONS release said. Machinery and transport equipment continued to be the main commodity traded with the United States in 2024, with £20.1 billion of imports and £29.1 billion of exports.
The proportion of total goods imported from the United States has been stable since 2022, remaining unchanged at 9.7 per cent of total imports.
However, the proportion of total goods exported to the United States has increased gradually since 2022, indicating that the United States may be becoming a relatively more important export partner for the United Kingdom. Over this period, the proportion of British goods being exported to the United States increased from 13.8 per cent to 16.2 per cent.
The United Kingdom imported £8 billion worth chemicals from the United States last year—a 1.1-per cent YoY increase. Chemical imports from the United States accounted for 11.9 per cent of all UK chemical imports in 2024. Chemicals were the second-largest commodity exported, with £10.8 billion of chemical exports to the United States in 2024, accounting for 19.6 per cent of the country’s total chemical exports.
Source: Fibre2fashion
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) announced its decision in the case between Turkish company Bursel Tekstil Sanayi ve Dış Ticaret A.Ş. and Uzbekistan. According to Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Justice, the tribunal rejected all claims made by Bursel Tekstil. The dispute began in July 2017, when Bursel Tekstil accused the Uzbek government of breaching promises related to cotton pricing and tax policies, actions the company claimed had led to its bankruptcy. Bursel Tekstil sought approximately $700 million in compensation. However, the tribunal ruled in favor of Uzbekistan and ordered Bursel Tekstil to cover the country’s legal costs. Bursel Tekstil had invested in Uzbekistan’s textile industry in the early 2000s, helping to build a textile plant in Tashkent with funding from the OPEC Fund for International Development and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. By 2011, the company operated three factories in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan was represented in the arbitration by the Ministry of Justice and the American law firm White & Case. Under ICSID rules, the tribunal’s decision is final and binding. Previously, The Times of Central Asia reported on another ICSID decision in May 2024, ordering the return of four resorts in Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan. In that case, Uzbekistan successfully argued that Kyrgyzstan had violated a 1992 agreement among former Soviet Union countries, which stipulates that property belonging to one country but located on the territory of another remains the property of the original owner.
Source: The Times of Central Asia
