Trade-based money laundering exposed through bilateral customs cooperation, resulting in arrests and cross-border enforcement actions.
Trade-based money laundering was conducted by mis-declaring synthetic diamonds as natural and inflating import values into a Special Economic Zone, with domestic dummy firms channeling funds through a single bank account to overseas suppliers. Investigations identified substitution of goods, a Hong Kong-based mastermind, arrests in India, and show cause notices under customs law; subsequent bilateral cooperation led to raids, further arrests, and asset freezing by Hong Kong customs.

Production Linked Incentive schemes boost domestic manufacturing competitiveness and exports by incentivising sectoral value addition.
Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes provide targeted, performance linked support to designated manufacturing sectors to increase domestic value addition, attract investment in advanced technologies, promote import substitution, enhance exports and generate employment; this is coupled with sectoral implementation exemplified by a dedicated PLI stream for white goods focusing on capital investment, domestic supplier participation and staged production commencement.

Policy repo rate pause maintained; focus on withdrawal of accommodation to align inflation to target.
The MPC resolved to keep the policy repo rate unchanged and to continue a stance of withdrawal of accommodation while remaining prepared to take appropriate and timely policy actions to ensure CPI inflation progressively aligns to the medium term target of 4 per cent within a +/- 2 per cent band, noting resilient domestic growth, easing core inflation, recurring food price shocks, and broadly balanced risks to the outlook.

Integrated multimodal connectivity planning consolidates GIS infrastructure and logistics policy to accelerate coordinated project planning and connectivity mapping.
The PM GatiShakti National Master Plan creates a GIS-enabled national database of trunk and utility infrastructure and of ongoing and planned projects across Central and State/UT ministries to enable integrated multimodal connectivity planning for mapped economic zones. Operating with the National Logistics Policy and its Comprehensive Logistics Action Plan, the framework supports a data-driven decision support mechanism through whole-of-government coordination, Network Planning Group meetings, and state-level adoption to accelerate surveys, planning and to identify first- and last-mile connectivity gaps.

Export promotion measures expand policy coverage and financial support, extending schemes and enhancing e commerce and district export initiatives.
Government export promotion combines the New Foreign Trade Policy 2023, extension of the Interest Equalization Scheme on rupee export credit, and continuation of support schemes including Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme, Market Access Initiatives, RoSCTL and expanded RoDTEP coverage. Facilitation measures include a Common Digital Platform for Certificate of Origin, enhanced Indian missions' trade role, and monitoring with export bodies. FTP 2023 introduces a chapter to include e commerce exporters within export promotion schemes and promotes district level e commerce through stakeholder collaboration.

Trade facilitation advances through India-New Zealand talks, committing to regular bilateral engagement and sectoral working groups.
Bilateral trade engagement prioritizes trade facilitation and reduction of barriers, with commitments to streamline processes and deepen cooperation in agriculture, forestry, pharmaceuticals, connectivity, education and tourism. Ministers agreed to regular senior level meetings and to use the Joint Trade Committee to sustain dialogue. Operationalizing engagement will rely on cross departmental coordination, private sector involvement, and working groups on specific topics to develop innovative economic partnership initiatives. Both sides affirmed support for a rules based, transparent multilateral trading system and cooperative approaches at WTO Ministerial discussions, including seeking mutual understanding on the Public Stock Holding issue.

Foreign trade policy reforms expand duty free inputs and streamline status certification to boost export facilitation.
Foreign Trade Policy 2023 refocuses export promotion on four pillars-remission incentives, collaborative promotion with states and missions, ease of doing business via digital measures, and emerging areas including e commerce and SCOMET items-and introduces a one time amnesty, Towns of Export Excellence, and a Status Holder Scheme. DGFT measures include Advance Authorisation duty free inputs, a searchable ad hoc norms database to avoid Norms Committee reviews, and system based automatic Status Holder certification to reduce compliance. Policy amendments also simplified composition fee calculations and liberalised civilian drone exports previously controlled under SCOMET.

Free Trade Agreement negotiations continue, focusing on goods, services and investment, with further rounds planned.
Negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement between the UK and India advanced in the thirteenth round via in person and virtual sessions, focusing on goods, services and investment, with parties committing to continued talks toward a comprehensive FTA and scheduling a further fourteenth round.

Customs seizure of smuggled gold at airport leads to arrests and invocation of confiscation and arrest provisions.
Seizure of undeclared gold at an international airport after profiling and searches led to recovery of multiple gold bars; the items were seized on reasonable belief of confiscation liability and the passengers were arrested under customs provisions, with further investigation ongoing.

Trade deficit improvement signals narrower external gap as exports edge up and imports decline in recent period.
Combined merchandise and services exports in November 2023 are estimated at USD 62.58 billion, up 1.23% year on year, while overall imports declined, narrowing the monthly deficit. For April-November 2023, combined exports edged down year on year and imports fell more markedly, reducing the overall trade deficit to USD 61.44 billion from USD 100.38 billion; merchandise imports and exports both declined, and services exports and the services surplus increased. Sectoral patterns show specific export gains (iron ore, agriculture, drugs, electronics) and pronounced import contractions in several categories. Estimates for services await RBI revision.

Logistics cost estimation: institutionalised, regular measurement proposed to improve supply efficiency and national competitiveness.
The report establishes a baseline estimate and a long-term calculation framework for logistics cost estimation, identifying core components (transportation; warehousing and storage including auxiliary services; packaging and insurance; administrative/operations costs) and noting lack of disaggregated public data. It recommends a hybrid method combining primary surveys, secondary statistics and real-time Big Data, and proposes institutionalising systematic, periodic data collection through formal arrangements to enable regular, evidence-based logistics cost measurement and targeted policy interventions.

Provisional collection of taxes: government may give immediate effect to customs or excise increases, with mandated refunds.
The Act allows the Central Government to declare in a government Bill that provisions imposing or increasing customs or excise duties shall have immediate effect; such declared provisions take effect at the end of the day the Bill is introduced and cease upon enactment, parliamentary cessation by notification after a motion, or after seventy-five days. Where declared provisions are enacted in amended form or cease under the Act, refunds are required for duties that would not have been collected absent the declaration, subject to a cap tied to the difference between the declared rate and the pre-introduction rate.

Interest equalisation scheme extended to support exporters with concessional pre- and post-shipment rupee credit and eligibility caps.
Continuation of the Interest Equalisation Scheme until 30 June 2024 providing 2% interest equalisation to manufacturer and merchant exporters of 410 identified tariff lines and 3% to MSME manufacturer exporters; implemented by the RBI through public and private banks and jointly monitored with DGFT. The scheme is now fund-limited with an additional allocation to bridge funding, a per-IEC annual cap on benefit, and debarment of banks that lend at average rates above the permitted benchmark.

Support for domestic suppliers urged to block predatory low quality imports and strengthen textile supply chains.
Call to strengthen domestic textile supply chains by avoiding predatory, low quality external supplies and actively supporting domestic suppliers; government measures include free trade engagement and Brand India promotion, Kasturi Cotton for traceability, and development of PM Mitra Parks to provide end to end solutions, using sector events to showcase India's quality and competitiveness.

Electronic exchange of origin data speeds preferential import clearance under CEPA, enabling automated customs data sharing.
Electronic exchange of Certificate of Origin data under the India Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement enables immediate transmission of specified CoO data fields from the exporting customs administration to the importing customs administration upon issuance, permitting faster verification of preferential origin claims and accelerated clearance of imported goods through automated cross border customs data exchange.

Statutory export promotion measures enhance marine product exports via trade fairs, capacity building and disease free shrimp breeding initiatives.
MPEDA, a statutory organisation under the Department of Commerce, promotes marine product exports through trade fairs, Buyer Seller Meets, financial support for value added processing, NETFISH led harbour and pre processing training to improve handling and quality compliance, and a Nucleus Breeding Centre for Specific Pathogen Free Tiger Shrimp in the Andaman Islands; product wise export values for recent years were disclosed to Parliament.

Logistics efficiency improvements showcased to World Bank, leveraging digital reforms and big-data LPI metrics to track trade speed.
DPIIT convened ministries and agencies to present coordinated digital and infrastructure reforms to improve logistics efficiency and India's World Bank LPI standing, highlighting Land Port Management System and smart gates, railway electrification and dedicated freight corridors, a National Maritime Single Window, customs automation via ICEGATE and an AEO portal, FASTag, e-Air Way Bill and e-Cargo measures, plus planned multi-modal logistics parks and port connectivity. The World Bank described an evolving LPI using KPIs from large tracking datasets, prompting DPIIT to continue inter-ministerial, data-driven interventions to align reforms with Big Data-based LPI metrics.

Anti-smuggling enforcement strengthens through enhanced forensics and international cooperation, driving investigations and prosecutions.
The DRI celebrated its 66th Foundation Day with the release of the "Smuggling in India Report 2022-23," reporting extensive enforcement activity including numerous smuggling cases, large seizures of narcotics and precious commodities, detection of significant customs duty evasion with partial voluntary payment, and a drive that concluded investigations and initiated prosecutions; the event emphasized enhanced forensic and data-analytics capabilities and inter-agency and international cooperation.

India US commercial cooperation strengthened by CEO Forum recommendations to expand supply chains, green tech, and industry skilling.
The India U.S. CEO Forum reaffirmed private sector commitment to deepen bilateral commercial engagement, highlighted implementation of industry recommendations and trade facilitation measures (including courier customs threshold changes and an e commerce chapter), and encouraged industry initiatives to build capacity for startups and MSMEs. The Forum prioritized supply chain cooperation across pharma, semiconductors, critical minerals and energy; scaling green technology manufacturing; partnerships in critical and emerging technologies; and bilateral industry led skilling programs, with working groups reporting progress across multiple sectoral streams.

Resilient debt capital market drives infrastructure and innovation financing, backed by reforms that boost investor confidence and sustainability.
India emphasises mobilising domestic and private financing to expand infrastructure by strengthening the debt capital market as a conduit for long term funding to support urbanisation, green energy transition, and emerging technology sectors; complementary reforms reducing compliance burdens and enhancing macroeconomic stability are presented as improving investor confidence and positioning capital markets to finance development and sustainability objectives.