Comprehensive trade agreement sought to deepen India Europe Oceania economic ties, requiring stakeholder engagement and resolution of divergences.
India seeks a comprehensive trade agreement with European and Oceania partners, but negotiations have been protracted because divergences arise from India's developing status and partners' developed status; overcoming those differences and appreciating mutual constraints through sustained engagement across government, trade institutions, exporters and businesses is essential to reach a formal understanding and realise trade and investment opportunities.

Digital onboarding and financial inclusion accelerated by FinTech; regulatory sandbox and SupTech/RegTech guide supervised innovation.
FinTech adoption in India is reshaping financial services through national payment infrastructures, non-bank payment and digital lending models, and emergent areas like P2P lending, TReDs and Account Aggregators. The RBI endorses participation by non-bank entities under licensing and minimum safeguards, promotes RegTech and SupTech for data-driven supervision and risk mitigation, and proposes a proportionate regulatory framework including a time- and space-limited regulatory sandbox to pilot innovations while protecting consumers and financial stability.

Rate of Exchange determination: notified foreign currency conversion rates for import and export under Customs Act affecting valuation.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs determines notified rate of exchange figures for specified foreign currencies into Indian rupees for customs valuation, listing separate imported and exported goods rates in Schedule I and per 100 unit rates in Schedule II, effective 21st March, 2019, and superseding the prior notification of 7th March, 2019 except as to prior actions.

Trade balance: provisional data shows imports outpacing exports, widening the overall trade deficit based on RBI-derived services estimates.
Provisional April-February 2018-19 trade statistics show a larger overall trade deficit as imports grew faster than exports; exports rose year-on-year in February and cumulatively led by non-petroleum non-gems-and-jewellery, while imports increased cumulatively with mixed month-on-month movements in oil and non-oil categories. Services estimates are provisional and derived from RBI quarterly and monthly releases, with February services data estimated and the combined figures subject to revision upon updated RBI data.

India-Africa economic partnership to mobilise project finance, B2B matchmaking and capacity building for joint ventures.
The Conclave advances India Africa economic partnership by convening senior policymakers, business leaders and financiers to identify bankable projects, enable B2B matchmaking, and explore innovative financing and capacity building for joint ventures in infrastructure, agriculture and food processing, energy, services, IT and knowledge industries. It promotes export diversification and expansion, encourages Indian exporters to increase presence in African markets, and seeks greater African manufacturing exports through optimal use of the Duty Free Tariff Preference scheme and targeted capacity building support from India.

Agriculture Export Policy targets doubling farmer incomes and boosting agricultural exports through market diversification and value chain support.
The Ministry released materials setting an export growth strategy that identifies nine priority sectors and combines sector-specific interventions, focused export promotion, transparency and rapid issue resolution, and action-oriented sector plans. It emphasizes strengthening manufacturing export hubs while leveraging services competitiveness. The materials introduce the Agriculture Export Policy as a key initiative to raise agricultural exports and farmer incomes through market diversification, value-chain development and targeted support measures within the broader export-promotion framework.

Transport and Marketing Assistance scheme reimburses international freight and marketing costs for eligible agricultural exports to specified regions.
Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) reimburses the international component of freight and certain marketing costs for eligible agricultural exports (HSN chapters 1-24 subject to specified exclusions) to listed regions, payable in cash by direct bank transfer for freight actually paid, conditional on receipt of payment in free foreign exchange and shipment through EDI ports; sea assistance is assessed per full TEU (forty feet = two TEUs) and air assistance per full ton, with differentiated regional rates and specified ineligible export categories.

Generalized System of Preferences withdrawal notice prompts bilateral negotiation over market access and tariff concessions and regulatory cooperation.
A 60 day withdrawal notice under the Generalized System of Preferences triggered bilateral negotiations addressing market access, tariff concessions, regulatory cooperation and certification regimes; India offered targeted concessions on specific IT items, market access for certain agricultural products, consideration of a trade margin approach for medical devices, and discussions toward a Mutual Recognition Agreement on telecom testing while maintaining non negotiable certification requirements for public welfare and cultural reasons.

Regional economic partnership: ministers committed to intensify negotiations to conclude a comprehensive trade agreement within the year.
Ministers of the 16 RCEP participating countries reaffirmed commitment to conclude a modern, comprehensive, high quality Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership within the year, commended Trade Negotiating Committee progress on market access and text negotiations, recognised outstanding issues and sensitivities, and agreed to intensify intersessional engagement and convene additional meetings to resolve remaining matters and advance chapters and annexes toward conclusion.

Free trade agreement negotiations: India's constructive stance secured policy space and agreement on institutional, SPS and standards chapters.
India played a constructive role in RCEP negotiations, preserving policy space for developing countries and helping conclude three chapters: Institutional Provisions, Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary measures, and Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures. India agreed to a proposed consensus principle for Institutional Provisions on the understanding that a future RCEP Secretariat will ensure participation of all member countries in decision making.

Definition of person expanded to include trusts, enabling trusts to establish units in Special Economic Zones.
Amendment expands the definition of 'person' in the Special Economic Zones Act to include a trust, enabling trusts to be eligible for permission to set up and operate units in SEZs, and grants the Central Government authority to notify additional entity types to be treated as persons for SEZ eligibility.