Economic partnership initiatives strengthened to boost trade, tech collaboration, and payments connectivity between India and New Zealand.
Ministers committed to strengthening bilateral economic relations by testing new economic partnership approaches, coordinating technology and expertise sharing, and sustaining senior-level dialogue. They agreed to establish working groups after stakeholder consultations to pursue cooperation in agriculture and horticulture, pharmaceuticals, and logistics, while advancing trade facilitation measures including wooden log imports, mango exports and Vapour Heat Treatment facilities. They welcomed a Memorandum of Understanding to liberalise air services and endorsed discussions on Unified Payments Interface interoperability to promote ease of business, trade and tourism, with periodic review of working group progress.

Free Trade Agreement negotiations progress as parties commit to conclude a fair, balanced, mutually beneficial trade deal.
India and the United Kingdom reaffirmed commitment to advance the Free Trade Agreement negotiations: twelve rounds have been completed with several chapters finalised, though issues remain outstanding. Chief negotiators briefed ministers on the state of play and joint efforts to resolve remaining matters. Ministers stressed continuing the current pace of exchanges and improving mutual understanding, with teams to negotiate through the end of August followed by higher level stock taking, aiming to conclude a fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial trade agreement to enhance bilateral economic cooperation.

Export safeguards for Basmati rice: value-threshold registration and committee review to prevent misclassification and illicit exports.
The Government directed APEDA to require a Registration - cum - Allocation Certificate (RCAC) for Basmati export contracts at or above a specified value threshold; contracts below the threshold are to be held in abeyance and reviewed by a committee to examine price variations and possible misuse for exporting non-basmati white rice, with the committee reporting within one month, and APEDA to consult trade to discourage such misuse.

Policy repo rate pause maintains current stance while prioritising withdrawal of accommodation to anchor inflation expectations.
The Monetary Policy Committee resolved to keep the policy repo rate unchanged and to continue a stance focused on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure inflation progressively aligns with the medium term 4 per cent target while supporting growth. The decision was based on assessment of resilient domestic activity, transitory but sizeable food price shocks, risks from uneven monsoon and global developments, and the need for proactive liquidity management and readiness to act if supply shocks broaden and unanchor inflation expectations.

Customs cooperation: cross-border trade facilitation enhanced through land, rail, river and air transshipment and data exchange.
Bilateral measures enhance customs cooperation and trade facilitation by permitting rail, inland waterway and air transshipment and customs clearance at Inland Container Depots to decongest land border crossings; discussions also covered opening land customs stations, port access implementation, infrastructure development, pre arrival data exchange, and electronic connectivity between transit modules.

Review of AITIGA to commence formal negotiations with quarterly sessions aimed at enhancing and diversifying India ASEAN trade.
The ministers endorsed the Terms of Reference and Work Plan for a review of the ASEAN India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA), approved commencement of formal negotiations under defined modalities, agreed a quarterly negotiation schedule and targeted conclusion of the review in 2025 to enhance FTA facilitation, address bilateral trade asymmetries, and diversify trade.

Mutual recognition of Authorized Economic Operators boosts reciprocal customs facilitation and supply chain security between India and Australia.
Approval is granted for a Mutual Recognition Arrangement between India and Australia recognising Australia's Trusted Trader Program and India's Authorized Economic Operator Program to provide reciprocal customs facilitation and expedited clearance for accredited exporters, consistent with the WCO SAFE Framework; the arrangement enters into force upon signature by authorised representatives and has been finalised with concurrence of both customs administrations.

Trade deficit improvement follows stronger services surplus despite contraction in merchandise exports across key sectors.
India's July 2023 trade shows overall export contraction offset by larger import declines, producing a narrower trade deficit; merchandise exports fell while services exports rose, with provisional services estimates subject to revision and sectoral divergences-iron ore, electronics and certain agricultural products grew, whereas petroleum, gems & jewellery and several intermediate goods contracted.

Policy repo rate maintained; MPC to withdraw accommodation to align inflation with target while supporting growth.
The MPC kept the policy repo rate and related standing facility rates unchanged while emphasising a stance of gradual withdrawal of accommodation to align CPI inflation with the medium term target of 4 percent within a +/- 2 percent band, balancing that objective with support for growth. The decision reflects resilient domestic demand, food-driven near-term inflationary pressures, and external risks; the MPC signalled readiness to respond to persistent inflationary shocks and will monitor developments closely.

Promotion of millet exports through APEDA-led multi stakeholder programmes and digital trade facilitation to boost market access.
APEDA, with a mandate to promote export of millets, provides assistance to registered exporters under its Export Promotion Scheme across Infrastructure, Quality and Market Development components; it operates digital platforms (a millet web portal, e catalogues, and a 24x7 Virtual Trade Fair), organises global marketing campaigns, trade fair participation and Buyer Seller Meets, and coordinates a multi stakeholder International Year of Millets 2023 action plan alongside state millet missions and other outreach to boost production, consumption and export linkages.

Market access barriers: agreement to address registrations, procurement restrictions, anti dumping concerns and improve logistics for trade.
The parties agreed to pursue measures to deepen trade cooperation across identified sectors and to address market access obstacles and technical barriers through sustained bilateral engagement. India urged resolution of pending registration for fishery and meat export establishments, restrictions on pharmaceutical public procurement, and high anti dumping duties on certain products. The meeting also proposed Mutual Recognition Agreements for professional services, internationalisation of payment infrastructure including RuPay and QR payments, domestic currency trade settlement, and trade facilitation measures such as direct shipping services, coordinated freight movement and improved air connectivity.

Trade transparency urged to counter mispricing and non tariff barriers and to strengthen resilient, diversified supply chains.
The Minister urged trade transparency and cooperative engagement among BRICS members, cautioning that non science based sanitary and phytosanitary measures and other non tariff barriers impede collective trade efforts. He advocated incremental WTO reform through concrete operational improvements, linked BRICS collaboration to G20 trade and investment work, and prioritized supply chain resilience, digital inclusion and MSME cooperation. He also raised concern about trade mispricing and under invoicing and supported capacity building to address it.

Export facilitation secures US market access for fresh pomegranate by coordinating phytosanitary compliance and traceability measures.
APEDA facilitated a first trial air shipment of fresh pomegranate to the United States by coordinating with national and US phytosanitary authorities, state agencies, research institutions and a registered exporter to secure market access and ensure compliance with import requirements, while promoting traceability via AnarNet and addressing production, post-harvest, logistics and packaging through Export Promotion Forums and infrastructure support.

Trade and investment cooperation: India seeks deeper ties with Latin America and the Caribbean to expand trade, investment and health collaboration.
India sets a four point agenda to deepen engagement with the Latin American & Caribbean region focusing on boosting trade flows via a roadmap and potential FTAs, leveraging bilateral partnerships to attract investment and integrate supply chains, expanding healthcare and pharmaceuticals cooperation through mutual recognition agreements and smarter regulation, and collaborating on global challenges by pooling resources and technology within a Global South framework, while pursuing trust building and operationalising these aims through the Department of Commerce's outreach with Invest India and export promotion councils.

Decriminalization of minor regulatory offences replaces imprisonment with calibrated administrative penalties and adjudication mechanisms.
The legislation advances a systematic decriminalization initiative by eliminating imprisonment for numerous minor, technical and procedural offences across multiple central Acts and replacing criminal sanctions with calibrated non-custodial responses, including conversion to penalties, compounding of offences, revision of fines, and establishment of Adjudicating Officers and Appellate Authorities to oversee administrative adjudication.

Restricted import category: tyre import licensing now tied to manufacturers' commitment to invest in domestic brownfield or greenfield projects.
Imports of new pneumatic tyres are classified under the Restricted Category, mandating an Import Licence. The Ministry has proposed that tyre manufacturers seeking authorisations for restricted tyres commit to invest in India via brownfield or greenfield production projects; procedural details are held by the relevant licensing division.