National security tariffs on steel and aluminium prompt India's WTO challenge and imposition of retaliatory customs duties.
The United States imposed elevated duties on certain steel and aluminium products under its national security tariff authority, which India considers inconsistent with WTO obligations and has challenged at the World Trade Organization. India concurrently imposed additional customs duties on a list of imports from the United States under safeguard rules, and the WTO Dispute Settlement Body established a panel in December 2018 to examine the dispute.

Regulatory reform: easing business procedures by digitising permits, licences and NOC processes to streamline approvals and compliance.
Implementation of regulatory reforms operates on national, state and district levels through a central Business Reform Action Plan that monitors measurable improvements in Doing Business indicators; state consultations, assessments and scoring drive reform adoption; district plans target digitisation and simplification of services including business start-up, registrations, online property and construction permits, multiple licensing and NOC regimes, municipal taxation and grievance redressal.

Intellectual property policy modernization strengthened institutional coordination and expedited patent and trademark processing nationwide.
Implementation of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy prioritised institutional consolidation, procedural modernization and capacity building: administration of certain IP statutes was centralized; technical resourcing reduced patent and trademark backlogs and enabled electronic certificate issuance; rule amendments allowed expedited patent examination and revamped trademark rules; and outreach included integration of IPR in education, establishment of Technology and Innovation Support Centres with WIPO, an IPR Enforcement Toolkit for police, and increased registration of patent and trademark agents.

Accreditation equivalence enables regional recognition of NABCB accredited OHSMS certificates, facilitating regulatory acceptance and exports.
NABCB's accession to the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation Multilateral Recognition Arrangement establishes regional acceptance of NABCB accredited ISO 45001 OHSMS certificates by demonstrating NABCB's compliance with international accreditation standards, enabling NABCB accredited certification bodies' certificates to be recognized across the Asia Pacific region and used by regulators and exporters as evidence of conformity in place of separate inspections.

Exchange rate determination for customs valuation sets separate official conversion rates for imports and exports.
Determination of exchange rates under section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962 supersedes a prior notification and prescribes distinct official conversion rates for specified foreign currencies for valuation of imported goods and for export goods, listed in Schedule I (unit rates) and Schedule II (rates per 100 units), to be applied for customs purposes while preserving actions taken under the prior notification.

Balanced and sustainable bilateral trade pursued through a Comprehensive Trade Agreement and Joint Study Group negotiations with local currency proposal.
Commitment to pursue balanced and sustainable bilateral trade through expedited negotiation of a Comprehensive Trade Agreement, finalisation of Joint Study Group submissions to enable negotiations, and consideration of a Turkish proposal for local currency settlement by India's Finance Ministry; a high level business delegation will be led to Turkey to advance these matters.

Trade negotiations under CEPA advance, with sugar export talks contingent on meeting South Korean quality standards.
Negotiations under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement framework continued between India and South Korea, including industry-level engagement where an Indian sugar delegation met South Korean refineries to explore raw sugar export opportunities contingent on meeting South Korean quality standards and specifications.

Import regulation for natural rubber tightened; duty increased and licensing and port restrictions imposed to support growers.
The Government tightened import regulation for dry rubber by raising import duty, reducing the advance licensing utilization period from eighteen to six months, and restricting port entry for imports to designated ports; domestically, Kerala's production incentive scheme credits growers with the difference between a reference price and daily market price based on purchase bills.

Special Economic Zones policy secures duty free enclave status and tax incentives enabling export oriented manufacturing and services under statutory scheme.
Special Economic Zones policy treats designated SEZ territory as a duty free enclave outside domestic customs territory, providing import facilitation, freedom for manufacturing and services, subcontracting flexibility, curtailed routine customs examination, and prescribed direct and indirect tax benefits; units must achieve positive net foreign exchange cumulatively over five years, while domestic sales remain subject to applicable customs duty and import policy.

Trade balance widens as imports outpace exports, increasing the overall trade deficit and external sector pressure.
Provisional statistics show combined merchandise and services exports rose for April-November 2018-19 but imports rose faster, widening the overall trade deficit; merchandise exports recorded modest dollar growth in November 2018 while imports-notably oil imports-rose substantially, and services data used are provisional (through October) with November estimates added pending RBI revision.

National Medical Devices Promotion Council to promote domestic manufacturing, streamline approvals and align standards for exports.
Establishment of a National Medical Devices Promotion Council under DIPP to promote domestic manufacturing, coordinate policy and trade interventions, and support export-oriented growth. Chaired by the Secretary of DIPP with industry and quality institution representation and technical support from Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone, the Council will convene industry consultations, recommend simplification of approval processes, support certification and standards alignment to international norms, drive Preferential Market Access and monitor public procurement compliance, validate manufacturing entities such as LLPs, and make policy recommendations to strengthen the medical technology sector.

Employment and Economic Enclaves 3Es shift prioritises jobs and growth with procedural relaxations and IFSC incentives.
The report recommends reorienting SEZ policy toward Employment and Economic Enclaves (3Es), separate rules for manufacturing and service SEZs, a demand-driven investment approach, an EoDB enabling framework with a unified online portal, ecosystem funding for multimodal connectivity and utilities, infrastructure status for finance access, procedural relaxations for developers and tenants, extension of tax/duty benefits, broadened service definitions and unified IFSC regulation with incentives, flexibility in leases and subcontracting, specified domestic supplies in NFE computation, and arbitration-based dispute resolution.

Export promotion framework under the Foreign Trade Policy expands transferable incentive schemes and trade facilitation to boost exports.
The Foreign Trade Policy establishes a comprehensive export promotion framework employing transferable incentive instruments (MEIS and SEIS), duty remission and Advance Authorisation for duty free inputs, modified EPCG obligations to favor domestic capital goods procurement, an Interest Equalisation Scheme to reduce export credit costs, capacity building via Niryat Bandhu, and trade facilitation and infrastructure measures (SWIFT, WTO TFA ratification, TIES); a mid term review added further incentives to align export policy with national economic initiatives.

Agriculture Export Policy aims to diversify and boost high-value agricultural exports while strengthening market-access mechanisms.
The Agriculture Export Policy seeks to diversify and boost high-value and value-added agricultural exports, pursue market access and sanitary and phytosanitary solutions, and integrate Indian agriculture with global value chains. Export-promotion is supported by central schemes (TIES, MAI, MEIS) and sectoral bodies (APEDA, MPEDA, Tea Board, Coffee Board, Rubber Board, Spices Board) through market access initiatives, fairs, market intelligence and quality measures. Exports vary with demand, prices, food-security and diplomatic factors, imports are monitored, and the Government announces MSPs and FRP for sugarcane to ensure remunerative prices for farmers.

Exchange rate listing of new currencies enables direct conversion for customs valuation and eases export incentive claims.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs will add the Korean Won and Turkish Lira to the official list of currencies for determining rates of exchange used in conversion to Indian Rupees for customs valuation and related assessments, thereby simplifying foreign-exchange conversion and aiding exporters to claim Merchandise Export Incentive Scheme benefits by providing readily available rates on remittance realisation dates.

Services sector expansion drives national economic strategy, boosting competitiveness, exports and regulatory reforms to ease business.
A national strategy to attain a USD five trillion economy prioritises expansion of the services sector through twelve designated Champion Services Sectors with focused action plans to boost competitiveness, employment and exports; a complementary Agriculture Export Policy sets strategic and operational measures to integrate farmers into global value chains and promote value added agri exports; and trade facilitation, logistics, procurement and institutional reforms are deployed to improve market access, ease of doing business and industrial development.

Agriculture export policy expands market access and establishes a central monitoring framework to integrate farmers into global value chains.
Approval of the Agriculture Export Policy creates a central Monitoring Framework led by the commerce department with multi agency and state representation to oversee implementation, address market access and sanitary and phytosanitary barriers, and promote export expansion through diversification, value addition, cluster development, infrastructure support, quality regimens, private investment, and research and development.

Exchange Rate Determination sets conversion rates for imported and exported goods, applying the notified schedule from the effective date.
The CBIC, exercising powers under section 14 of the Customs Act, determines specific Rate of Exchange conversions for listed foreign currencies to be used for imported and exported goods, superseding the prior notification except as to prior actions; rates are set in Schedule I (per unit) and Schedule II (per 100 units for Japanese Yen) and apply from the notified effective date for customs valuation purposes.

Customs data sharing as the central tool to enhance cross border cooperation against organized smuggling and related financial crime.
DRI convened a two day Regional Customs Enforcement Meeting focused on strengthening data and intelligence sharing among Customs administrations to detect and disrupt illicit networks engaged in drug trafficking, smuggling of precious metals and stones, money laundering and related organized financial crime. DRI proposed a four stage model for data exchange and, together with Interpol, WCO, UNODC and regional delegations, emphasized operational cooperation including real time intelligence sharing and layered passenger profiling.

Illicit financial flows and trade based money laundering: enhanced WCO cooperation and customs performance measurement.
The WCO Policy Commission's 80th Session concentrated on countering illicit financial flows and Trade Based Money Laundering, promoting measures for detection, information sharing and regulatory control across cross border supply chains. Delegates reviewed the WCO Strategic Plan (2019-2022) emphasizing trade facilitation, revenue protection, societal protection and capacity building, and debated instituting standardized performance measurement tools for customs clearance. Bilateral talks produced cooperation instruments, including a Joint Action Plan to pursue a Mutual Recognition Agreement for Authorized Economic Operators to facilitate trade.