Goyal calls for centre–state push to drive India’s export growth

Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has called for a stronger Centre–State partnership to expand India’s export base and create employment, stressing that economic growth must be driven through trade diversification and global competitiveness.

Addressing the fourth meeting of the reconstituted Board of Trade (BoT) in New Delhi on November 25, Goyal highlighted India’s resilience amid global volatility and urged states to collaborate closely with the Central Government to accelerate export growth.

India will intensify exports through coordinated centre–ctate action as part of a new strategy to expand trade and jobs, Indian Minister Piyush Goyal told the Board of Trade meeting in New Delhi.
Landlocked States will receive special support under the Export Promotion Mission, and focus will shift to high-quality standards, digital trade systems, FTA-led market access and MSME facilitation.

Minister Goyal announced that landlocked states will receive targeted schemes under the newly launched Export Promotion Mission to improve logistics access and competitiveness. The Minister said the Ministry of Commerce will work with concerned agencies to address state-specific challenges based on feedback received during the meeting.

Stressing that India’s credibility as a global trading partner depends on quality consistency, Goyal said exporters must adhere to high standards in every consignment to build long-term trust with international markets. He urged states to share best practices on Single Window systems and Ease of Doing Business to foster healthy competition and streamline trade facilitation, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.

Progress was reviewed on commitments made during previous BoT meetings. A key achievement has been the rapid scale-up of the Trade Connect ePlatform, launched in September 2024, combining services from Indian Missions, DGFT, Export Promotion Councils and other partners. With over 62 lakh platform visits, more than 18 lakh registered users, over 22 lakh digitally issued Certificates of Origin and multilingual market-compliance tools for MSMEs, the platform is emerging as a digital trade gateway.

The Jan Sunwai video-conferencing grievance module recorded a 96 per cent closure rate, resolving 3,377 of 3,518 trade complaints. Goyal added that extending the RoDTEP scheme to March 31, 2026, provides predictability for exporters. He also highlighted landmark FTAs, including the India–EFTA TEPA (March 2024) and the India–UK CEPA (July 2025), and said more agreements are under negotiation.

Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal emphasised last-mile connectivity between exporters and public support systems, while DGFT Additional Secretary Ajay Bhadoo underlined the fully digital shift in trade facilitation, including paperless Certificates of Origin. Ministers from multiple States presented best practices on export promotion, reinforcing collaborative policy development.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)