Finance Minister on Tuesday hoped that negotiation on free trade agreement with US and EU to conclude. She also rejected the allegation of India being high tariff country.  These remarks have come at a time; when 90-day pause period for the US reciprocal tariffs going to end on July 9.

Addressing the Trade Conclave, organised by India Exim Bank, she said that India has already signed free trade agreements with the UAE, Australia, and 4-nation EFTA (European Free Trade Association) bloc and negotiations have been completed with the UK. “With the US and the European Union, negotiations are really intensely going on and should come to conclusion sooner,” she said while adding that the emphasis now is on concluding more free trade agreements.

Rejecting the allegation of high tariff country, Sitharaman said that rationalisation of customs structure for the industrial goods was done (in the Budget). To remove seven tariff rates. “For those who still believe in the commentary which was made in the US that India may be the tariff king. No, I want two things to be remembered,” she said. Elaborating this, she said given India’s system of things, the government seeks parliamentary approval for deciding on the tariff rate, obtain from the parliament the permission to go up to a certain level but effectively it is at a far lower level.

Effective tariff rate is at a far lower level. But what gets published in the gazette would be that level for which you obtained permission from the parliament and it is that level which appears everywhere and people then tend to think — probably rightly, that’s the rate at which India is imposing tariffs. “Our procedures have given us the not-so-desirable picture of being very very restrictive and regressive about tariff. Many of them are already far lower than the rate at which the gazette notification came after the approval of the Parliament,” she explained.

Even after that India removed seven tariff rates in FY26 Budget. “For those of us who still think there is still a tariff story in India, I want this to be clear, there are only just eight (tariff rates) including the zero rate,” she said while adding that India has done a lot of reforms in reducing the burden on trade by cutting down tariffs to support manufacturing and value addition, promote exports and to facilitate trade.

Referring to the country’s exports, the finance minister said total exports of goods and services reached a record high of USD 825 billion in FY25, achieving 6 per cent growth over previous year. While global exports grew by only 4 per cent, India‘s exporters managed to fast-track and cross growth of 6.3 per cent despite global uncertainties on trade front, she said.

Observing that exporters are “swimming against tides” , she assured all support to them and urged them to focus on innovation and finding newer markets for their products.

Speaking at the event, Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju said India‘s growth prospects remain bright even as the world economy is troubled by geopolitical uncertainties and significant headwinds emanating from it .“Even amidst all the global headwinds, India continues to be a beacon of hope,” he said.

Published on June 24, 2025