Commerce minister Goyal to meet exporters, industry associations on April 27 – CNBC TV18
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will hold a meeting with representatives of export promotion councils (EPCs) and industry associations on Monday, April 27, to discuss ways to boost the country's outbound shipments, an official said.
The meeting will be held after India and New Zealand sign the free trade pact here at Bharat Mandapam. Todd McClay, New Zealand's Minister for Trade and Investment, is already here with a business delegation.
The minister is holding talks with Indian and New Zealand business leaders at Agra on Sunday. Sector representatives who will be present in the meeting include leather, pharma, auro, sports goods and engineering, the official said.
The meeting on Monday is also important as Indian exporters are reeling under the impact of West Asia crisis, triggered by the US-Israel conflict with Iran. Shipping companies are reluctant to carry goods in the Middle East countries, a key export destination for Indian businesses.
Merchandise exports posted the steepest fall in five months, declining 7.44% in March to $38.92 billion due to trade uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, with shipments to West Asia contracting by more than 50% during the month.
The trade deficit, however, narrowed to a nine-month low of $20.67 billion in March on account of lower imports.
Imports dipped 6.51% to $59.59 billion in March, driven by a significant decline in inbound shipments of crude oil and gold, the data showed. India's exports to the Middle East fell 57.95% in March, while imports from the Gulf nations contracted 51.64%.
For the full 2025-26 fiscal year, exports grew 0.93% to an all-time high of $441.78 billion, while imports rose 7.45% to $775 billion. The trade deficit ballooned to $333.2 billion due to a jump in gold and silver imports during the last fiscal year.
The country's goods and services exports increased by an estimated 4.22% to an all-time high of $860.09 billion in 2025-26 against $825.26 billion in 2024-25.
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