Budget provides strong systemic support to export ecosystem: Commerce Secy

The Budget for 2026-27 has announced a series of measures and provides strong systemic support to the exporting ecosystem by focusing on areas such as manufacturing and trade facilitation, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Sunday.

The Budget for 2026-27 has announced a series of measures and provides strong systemic support to the exporting ecosystem by focusing on areas such as manufacturing and trade facilitation, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Sunday. He said that there are measures for labour-intensive as well as high-tech sectors. The focus on logistics and trade facilitation help cut compliance burden and improve India's share in global trade, Agrawal said. ''It is an excellent Budget which provides a strong systemic support to the trade ecosystem by focusing on manufacturing, trade facilitation, by focusing on new areas. It will all help in trade diversification also,'' Agrawal told PTI. Announcements with regard to electronics, IT, pharma, marine, leather, textiles and semi-conductor will further give a boost to the country's exports, he said. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday proposed duty-free imports of certain specified inputs for promoting the country's exports of leather. The move will help provide cushion to leather exporters who are reeling under the steep 50 per cent US tariffs. The country's leather and leather products shipments dipped marginally 0.23 per cent to USD 3.3 billion during April-December 2025-26. The commerce ministry said the revival of 200 legacy industrial clusters through infrastructure and technology upgradation will help lower costs, improve productivity, and make traditional export hubs more competitive. It said that Reforms in Special Economic Zones are designed to enhance capacity utilisation, economies of scale, and overall resilience of the SEZ ecosystem while maintaining export orientation. ''One-time facilitation for limited Domestic Tariff Area sales at concessional duties and extended tax incentives for cloud and data-centre operations are expected to attract global manufacturers and technology players to SEZs,'' it said. It said removal of the Rs 10 lakh value cap on courier exports will support small exporters and e-commerce-led shipments, while improvements in handling of returned consignments will reduce friction in global B2C trade. Extensions of concessional customs duty regimes for gold and silver dore bars and lab-grown diamond inputs will further support domestic refining and value addition. Targeted tax and regulatory reforms for IT and IT-enabled services, such as a unified classification of IT services, higher safe-harbour thresholds, automated approvals, faster Advance Pricing Agreements, and long-term certainty will enhance India's attractiveness for Global Capability Centres and international service providers.

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