Daily News - Monday, 17 November 2025

India's economic growth, social inclusion can advance together: UNDP chief (Business Standard)

UNDP Acting Administrator Haoliang Xu said India has shown that rapid economic growth can advance alongside social inclusion by combining technology, participatory governance and major programmes like MGNREGA, Ayushman Bharat, JAM, UPI and CoWIN to deliver transparent services, reduce poverty, narrow regional gaps and build climate-resilient livelihoods, creating a model that many developing nations are now studying. He highlighted India’s rising leadership in the Global South, noting that its commitment to climate adaptation, renewable energy, inclusive digital finance and green jobs provides a blueprint for balancing growth with sustainability at a time when global human-development progress has slowed and developing countries urgently need simpler and faster climate-finance systems. Xu added that as India strengthens cooperation with UNDP on digital transformation and climate action, its open digital public infrastructure and South-South partnerships are helping translate local innovations into global lessons while the world works toward scaling climate finance, aligning investments with national goals and accelerating efforts under COP30. 

⁠India, EAEU review roadmap for proposed FTA to deepen trade, market access (Business Standard)

⁠India and the Eurasian Economic Union have reviewed the roadmap for their proposed free trade agreement in goods as they move into an 18-month negotiation plan designed to expand market access for Indian exporters, diversify trade for MSMEs, farmers and fishermen, and reduce dependence on markets where tariffs have recently risen, particularly the US. During Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal’s meetings in Moscow, India and Russia also discussed a pathway to raise bilateral trade to USD 100 billion by 2030 through greater diversification, improved supply-chain resilience, cooperation in critical minerals, and quarterly regulator-level coordination to resolve certification, logistics, payments and non-tariff issues. With the EAEU’s combined GDP of about USD 6.5 trillion and Russia already accounting for USD 68.72 billion of India’s trade largely due to crude oil imports, the proposed FTA is seen as a move that could significantly strengthen India’s competitiveness in new sectors and geographies while boosting predictability and ease of doing business for firms in both regions.

Indian tea, coffee, spice exporters gain as Trump lifts tariffs on over 200 food products (Financial Express)

⁠The recent US tariff exemptions on more than 200 food items are expected to benefit Indian agricultural exporters by potentially reviving some lost demand, with analysts estimating that between $2.5 billion and $3 billion worth of Indian exports such as tea, coffee, spices, cashew nuts, fruits and vegetables could gain even though India still has a weak presence in major exempted categories like tomatoes, citrus fruits, melons, bananas and fruit juices. Officials view the exemptions as a positive signal for ongoing US–India trade talks and a partial relief after earlier tariff hikes that contributed to a nearly 12 percent decline in India’s exports to the US in September, but exporters caution that high freight costs, intense competition from Vietnam and Indonesia, and stricter US quality norms could limit the benefits. While the tariff shift may modestly strengthen India’s position in spices and niche horticulture, larger gains are expected for Latin American, African and ASEAN suppliers, and uncertainty remains about whether Indian shipments will be exempt from the full 50 percent tariff or the lower 25 percent reciprocal tariff.

Farm exports to get modest gain from US tariff waiver (Financial Express)

⁠India is expected to gain very little from the recent US tariff exemptions on select agricultural items because its current share in those exempted categories is small, with only about $548 million of exports in a $50.6-billion US import basket and almost no presence in major segments such as tomatoes, citrus fruits, melons, bananas, fresh fruits, and fruit juices. Analysts note that while the move may slightly enhance India’s competitiveness in spices and certain niche horticulture products, the broader benefits are likely to flow mainly to large exporters from Latin America, Africa, and ASEAN unless India significantly expands production capacity, strengthens cold-chain infrastructure, and diversifies its agricultural export mix. India’s key agri-exports to the US such as shrimp, seafood, and rice remain outside the tariff relief, but EU approval of additional fishery units may offset some losses by giving Indian seafood exporters wider access to Europe at a time when bilateral agri-trade with the US stands at around $6.6 billion. 

⁠India should lead reform process at WTO: DG (Financial Express)

⁠The WTO chief urged India to take a leading role in reforming the global trade body by helping identify non-functioning areas at the upcoming ministerial conference, while also cautioning that repeating old grievances will not strengthen the multilateral trading system. She warned that the global trading environment is facing its worst disruption in eighty years due to actions like US tariffs, although most WTO members have avoided escalation and continue to trade under established rules, even as India and others raise issues such as public stockholding and concerns around new carbon-related trade measures. She added that climate-related mechanisms like CBAM should not become protectionist and that a global carbon pricing framework would create interoperable systems, while acknowledgment of uncertainty in global trade is prompting countries to reassess dependence on single markets or single sources for critical inputs.