Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2662 actions· ✨ 89 recent

India and New Zealand signed their first bilateral Free Trade Agreement on 27 April 2026 in New Delhi. New Zealand grants duty-free access to 100% of Indian exports from day one, while India eliminates tariffs on ~95% of New Zealand exports — covering kiwifruit, apples, meat, wool, coal and forestry products — with core dairy (butter, cheese) carved out and milk albumins receiving a 50% tariff cut under quota. Negotiations launched in March 2025 and were concluded in 9 months. The package includes a NZ commitment to invest USD 20 billion in India over 15-20 years and ~5,000 annual Indian work visas for IT, engineering, healthcare, education, construction, traditional medicine, yoga and culinary professions; bilateral trade is targeted to double to USD 5 billion within five years. The agreement is signed but not yet in force pending ratification.

India's DGFT issued Notification No. 24/2025-26 (S.O. 3657(E)) on 11 August 2025, with immediate effect, adding four jute and textile-bast-fibre HS lines — woven jute fabrics (531090), jute twine/cordage/rope (560790, 560890), and jute sacks and bags (630510) — to the list of Bangladesh-origin goods barred from land-port entry into India. Consignments in these categories may now enter only via Nhava Sheva Seaport (Maharashtra); the notification leaves the terms of the prior Notification No. 21/2025-26 (27 June 2025) otherwise unchanged. It is the third in a widening 2025 sequence of DGFT port-routing restrictions on Bangladeshi goods, following Notification No. 07/2025-26 (17 May 2025, targeting RMG and other consumer goods) and Notification No. 21/2025-26.

India and the UK signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on 24 July 2025 in Chequers, with Prime Ministers Modi and Starmer presiding. The agreement grants duty-free access on 99% of Indian exports to the UK (textiles, apparel, footwear, auto components, engineering goods and chemicals), and reduces Indian tariffs on UK goods covering ~90% of tariff lines: Scotch whisky duties drop from 150% to 75% on day one and taper to 40% over ten years; high-end UK car tariffs fall from ~110% to 10% under a quota; UK MFN access on a wide industrial-goods envelope. A Double Contribution Convention exempts Indian secondees from UK National Insurance for three years. Bilateral trade currently ~£42 bn / USD 56 bn per year, with the parties targeting doubling by 2030. UK ratification under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRaG) ran from January 2026, with the 21-sitting-day scrutiny period concluding 5 March 2026. Entry into force was delayed from the originally targeted May 2026 date and is now confirmed for July 15, 2026 following a UK Prime Minister announcement at the G7 Évian summit sidelines on June 17, 2026. The confirmed EIF covers 64% of UK exports (£1.9bn) duty-free immediately, with an additional £25.5bn/year in projected additional bilateral trade.

India's DGFT issued Notification No. 07/2025-26 on 17 May 2025, with immediate effect, restricting the entry points through which Bangladesh goods may be imported into India. All ready-made garments (RMG) from Bangladesh are barred from land ports entirely and may enter only via Nhava Sheva and Kolkata seaports; processed food, rubber and plastic goods, and wooden furniture are barred from Land Customs Stations (LCSs) and Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, and at Changrabandha and Fulbari in West Bengal. The notification is widely read as a retaliatory measure responding to Bangladesh's April 2025 NBR land-port yarn-import ban, and is the first bilateral India-Bangladesh trade-restriction instrument filed in the IPTM register.

The Government of Karnataka, Department of Industries and Commerce, notified the Karnataka Industrial Policy 2025-30 in the Karnataka Gazette on 11 February 2025, with the policy taking legal effect from 8 February 2025 and valid for five years (or until superseded). It supersedes the prior Karnataka Industrial Policy 2020-25. The umbrella state-level framework targets ₹7.5 lakh crore (~USD 90 bn) in fresh investment and 20 lakh (2 million) new jobs by 2030, positioning Karnataka as a top-Asia destination for high-technology manufacturing — semiconductors, EVs, aerospace, defence, biotech, medical devices, textiles and renewable energy. It introduces zone-based incentive categorisation (Zone 1/2/3 district classification), capital subsidies, stamp-duty exemption, electricity-tax exemption, interest subsidy, ESDM-specific top-up incentives that layer onto central PLI/ECMS/Semicon Mission schemes, and a Cabinet Sub-Committee under the Chief Minister to sanction bespoke "Anchor Investor" and "Mega/Ultra-Mega" customised incentive packages.