Winning Bizness Desk
Mumbai.FTA Exports Climb 25 pc to USD 43-bn in Q1
The country’s merchandise exports to countries covered by its Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) climbed up steeply and was well ahead of overall export growth in the first-quarter (Q1) of this fiscal (FY 27).
This growth is significant because it reveals the increasing effectiveness of India’s agreements, the government has informed Parliament just a few days ago.
Exports to FTA partners climbed northward 25 per cent on a Year-on-Year (YoY) basis to USD 43.14-billion during the April-to-June period of this year, as compared to the USD 34.65-billion in the corresponding period of last year, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Mr Jitin Prasada said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
The country’s overall merchandise exports, in contrast, grew only 16 per cent to USD 129.32-billion in the quarter from the USD 111.57-billion a year earlier.
An interesting point here is that the robust growth also increased the contribution of the FTA partner countries to India’s export basket.
Their share in total merchandise exports increased to 33.4 per cent in the April-to-June period of FY 27 from the 31.1 per cent in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.
This also reflects the growing reliance on preferential trade agreements to access foreign markets.
The government also pointed to the steep climb in the number of Certificates of Origin issued under the FTAs, a crucial document that enables exporters to claim preferential tariff benefits.
The number of certificates issued has more than doubled from 3.6-lakh in FY 22 to over 7.8-lakh in Q1 FY 27. This is significant because it shows a higher adoption of the country’s FTAs by its exporters.
The commerce ministry said it continuously reviews the effectiveness of FTAs through consultations with industry associations, export promotion councils, trade bodies, Indian missions overseas and other ministries to address challenges and improve market access.
India Has Registered Sustained Economic Growth Since Covid: Nageswaran
India’s economy has shown resilience in the last 10-to-12 years as well as sustained economic growth since the Covid pandemic struck the world in the early 2020s.
“The Indian economy has shown resilience in the last 10-12 years. Despite global shocks since Covid, sustained GDP growth has been witnessed,” Mr Nageswaran said in his address at the Assocham FinTech Festival 2026.
The senior Indian government official said that the country was among the few counties which have clocked in excess of a seven per cent economic growth in real terms since the Covid pandemic.
According to him, there were only three or four countries which have witnessed their public debt ratios reducing.
“Fiscal debt has also come down from 9.2 per cent to 4.4 per cent of last year. The point is that the supply-side potential of the economy has been enhanced. That is a big achievement and the second factor that goes along with it is the resilience,” Mr Nageswaran added.
The present government inherited multiple macro-economic challenges such as a high fiscal deficit and current account deficit as well as balance-sheet problems, India’s chief economic advisor said.
“That was the inherited situation. So, the rest of the decade went into repairing balance-sheets, allowing the corporates to repair and helping the public sector banking system to repair their balance-sheets,” Mr Nageswaran pointed out.
By the time the bank and balance-sheet problems had been remedied, we had housing finance and NBFC issues in 2018-19, after which the pandemic hit,” Mr Nageswaran said.
India’s IIP Clocks Fastest Jump in Nearly Two-Years to 7.3 pc in June
India’s industrial output has registered a healthy growth of 7.3 per cent in June of this year as compared to the much-lesser 5.1 per cent in the preceding month, expanding at its fastest pace in nearly two-years.
The reason for this expansion is primarily due to the improved performance in the manufacturing sector and the strong growth of the electricity and gas supply sectors.
As per the government, this is the third monthly data for the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) based on the new series.
“In June 2026, the IIP recorded a 7.3 per cent YoY growth, supported by a 7.8 per cent growth in the manufacturing sector and strong growth of 10.6 per cent in electricity and gas supply sectors,” the National Statistics Office (NSO) said in a statement.
“The IIP growth rate for the month of June 2026 is 7.3 per cent as against 5.1 per cent (quick estimate released in June) in the month of May 2026,” it stated, adding that the revised estimate of IIP for the month of May was five per cent.
The production of mining and quarrying increased by one per cent, manufacturing by 7.8 per cent, electricity and gas supply and water supply by 10.6 per cent and sewerage and waste management by 6.1 per cent in June 2026 as compared to the year-ago period.” Within the manufacturing sector, 19 out of 23 industry groups have recorded positive growth in June 2026 over June 2025,” it stated.
The top three performers in June 2026 are manufacture of electrical equipment (34 per cent), manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (17.5 per cent) and manufacture of food products (10.8 per cent), it said.
By use-based classification, the NSO data further said that capital goods clocked the steepest growth at 14.2 per cent followed by intermediate goods at 9.3 per cent, infrastructure/construction goods at 7.5 per cent and consumer durables at 7.7 per cent and both primary and consumer non-durables goods at 4.9 per cent each.
“Intermediate goods, primary goods and capital goods were the top three contributors to overall IIP growth for the month,” it said.
Foreign Exchange Reserves Register Highest Weekly Gain in Over 6-Months
The country’s foreign exchange reserves increased by USD 10.5-billion to USD 692.87-billion during the week ended July 31, the highest weekly gain since January 30 of this year.
This robust climb was primarily due to an increase in foreign currency assets (FCAs) and gold reserves, data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed.
Foreign Currency Assets comprise the largest component of the reserves and they increased by USD 8.75-billion to USD 564.68-billion during the reporting week.
FCAs expressed in dollar terms include the effects of appreciation and depreciation of non-US currencies such as the Euro, Pound and Yen, held in the reserves.
Gold reserves rose by USD 1.69-billion to USD 104.74-billion during the week.
Market participants said that the Reserve Bank bought around USD 4.1-billion during the reporting week with the remainder of the increase in FCAs attributed largely to revaluation gains as the dollar weakened during the week.
Gold reserves also reflected revaluation gains, they said.
The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) increased by USD 48-million to USD 18.67-billion.
The country’s reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also rose by USD 28-million to USD 4.78-billion, the Reserve Bank data showed.
