India Emerging as a Global Export Hub in Line with the Vision of Viksit Bharat 2047: Darpan Jain

By R Anil Kumar

• India’s Rising Export Trajectory Continues in Electronics, Engineering and Services Sectors

• Steady Growth of 5.7% CAGR in Overall Exports from Financial Year 2015 to 2026

• India has consistently converted crises into opportunities by reorienting processes and business strategies to suit changing geopolitical and economic circumstances while continuing to remain an attractive destination for trade, business, manufacturing and investments

Bengaluru, June 9, 2026. Highlighting the progress in the commercial sector, Mr. Darpan Jain stated that the Department of Commerce has taken decisive steps towards transforming India into a global export hub to achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’.

Mr. Darpan Jain, Additional Secretary, Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said, briefing the media in Bengaluru on ‘Free Trade Agreements, India’s 12 Years of Progress in the Field of IT Services’.

During the 12-year period beginning from Financial Year 2014-15 to 2025-26, India’s overall export sector recorded a Compound Annual Growth Rate(CAGR) of 5.7%, thereby expanding the country’s trade capacity at the global level. Mr. Darpan Jain stated that, India’s services sector exports grew significantly by 9.3% over the same period, strengthening the country’s economy. He also added that this has helped to structurally offset the overall trade deficit.

The electronic goods export sector achieved the highest growth of 20.3%. Its export value reached 47.96 billion US Dollars in Financial Year 2026. Engineering goods created an all-time record by reaching 122.4 billion US Dollars in Financial Year 2026. The pharmaceutical sector achieved a growth of 7.4% and reached a value of 31.1 billion US Dollars. The export value of spices crossed 4.3 billion US Dollars, while coffee exports rose to 2.1 billion US Dollars with an annual growth of 15.3%. Marine products exports reached ₹73,439.91 crore. Mr. Darpan Jain highlighted that the share of services sector exports in the overall export value has risen from 35% in 2009-10 to 48% by 2025-26.

Sharing details about the Free Trade Agreements(FTAs), Mr. Darpan Jain stated that the Government of India is working towards expanding the market and creating new opportunities.

Currently, 9 Free Trade Agreements have been signed with 38 countries in the last 5 years alone. This has added a GDP value of 56 trillion US Dollars. Earlier, there was a 10-20% duty on the export of certain products. However, through these agreements, exports in sectors such as agriculture, textiles, gems and jewellery, marine products, electronic equipment, and pharmaceuticals are now duty-free, opening up new opportunities for the country’s producers besides increasing exports to new countries. Mr. Darpan Jain also stated that this is also strengthening the bilateral relations with the countries India has signed FTAs.

Mr. Darpan Jain mentioned that the implementation of digital technologies such as Trade Connect Platform, eCoO 2.0, and TIA Portal has simplified trade processes. Mr. Darpan Jain noted that government incentive measures like ‘Make in India’ and PLI are the main reasons for the success.

He stated that despite global challenges such as COVID, the Russia-Ukraine war, America’s tax policies, and the war in West Asia, India’s exports are achieving remarkable progress. The state of Karnataka is at the forefront of IT services exports and also has good progress in the export of textiles and petroleum products, he said. Mr. Darpan Jain stated that the government is committed to building a developed India by 2047 by taking local products to the global level.

Department of Commerce Engages Industry on Leveraging FTAs to Accelerate India’s Services’ Exports and exports from GCCs

The Department of Commerce, Government of India, in collaboration with NASSCOM, organised an outreach event in Bengaluru on June 9, 2026, to highlight major achievements, reforms and policy initiatives of the Department over the last 12 years.

Alongside this outreach, a series of focused industry roundtables were also organized on the theme “Leveraging FTAs for India’s IT/ITeS sector”, which brought together leading IT services companies, technology firms, startups, SMEs, and Global Capability Centres (GCCs) to discuss the opportunities arising from India’s Free Trade Agreements for Indian services suppliers operating in areas of IT/ITeS and Business services. The Department of Commerce was represented by Mr.. Darpan Jain, Additional Secretary.

In his media interactions on the achievements of the Department of Commerce over the course of the last 12 years, Additional Secretary emphasised India’s strong export trajectory, digital transformation, deepening trade relations, concerted action being taken to promote Brand India and efforts to enhance India’s export capabilities and competitiveness.

The exponential growth that has been in several sectors over the course of the last 12 years was emphasised. Focus was placed on digital platforms that enable exporters to engage with the Department, such as Trade Connect, TIA portal, Trade facilitation mobile app, migration to eCoO 2.0, and mechanisms to enable ease of doing trade and reduce compliance burden.

Additional Secretary also emphasised the evolution of India’s FTA landscape opening opportunities to enhance exports significantly and building trusted partnerships with countries with whom we share complementarities.

While elaborating on the FTAs, special attention was also placed on the duty-free market access that we have been able to successfully negotiate with many of our partner countries over a range of sectors across manufacturing, agriculture, gems & jewellery, textiles & apparels, among others.

Additional Secretary also shared insights on the design of India’s recently revamped Export Promotion Mission and the key instruments through which EPM aims at providing access to trade finance and expand holistic market access, especially for firms in the MSME sector.

In his interactions with the firms from IT/ ITeS sector and GCCs, Additional Secretary highlighted India’s strong growth in services exports over the last decade and emphasized the important role that a positive services trade balance has been playing. He also encouraged industry participants to explore the potential that India’s FTA partner countries offer in terms of market size, complementarity and network effects and elaborated on the key elements that FTAs entail in terms of market access, non-discrimination, disciplining domestic regulations, commitments on digital delivery of services, investments, mobility of Indian professionals and social security arrangements.

Industry participants welcomed the Department’s outreach, which provided a deeper understanding of what FTAs entailed and further strengthened their ability to expand their market access to new geographies and sectors by leveraging the commitments and obligations in FTAs.

During the discussions, some of the issues that were delved into in detail centred around data adequacy issues, details on facilitative provisions around social security arrangements in various FTAs, challenges related to mobility of Indian professionals, taxation-related issues, how FTAs can support the expansion of high-value GCC operations across research and development, engineering, analytics, financial services, and emerging technology, among others.

Additional Secretary encouraged the industries to work to curate sector-specific, jurisdiction-specific proposals for enabling market intelligence, facilitating B2B matchmaking, mobility facilitation, reducing compliance burdens, etc so that they can be appropriately considered for support under the ambit of the Export Promotion Mission. He also reiterated the commitment of DoC to work closely with industry stakeholders to maximize the benefits of India’s trade agreements and support the country’s ambition of becoming a leading global hub for high-value services, innovation, and digital trade while addressing the challenges and availing opportunities presented by emerging innovative and deep technologies.