India is energetically pursuing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). It has signed deals with the UK, EFTA, UAE, Oman, and Australia. It has finalised negotiations with the European Union, a really big market, and ratification by EU members should follow next year.
A framework agreement with the US has been negotiated. Donald Trump has already said that the Supreme Court verdict striking down duties changes “nothing” for the India-US trade deal. “They’ll be paying tariffs, and we will not be paying tariffs.” Economists are hopeful that such deals will boost labour-intensive low-cost exports like garments and footwear.
Such euphoria may be unwarranted. The govt was trying to promote textile exports 60 years ago when I became a journalist and is still trying to do so, with very limited success.
Bangladesh and Vietnam have garment factories with 50,000 female workers apiece, but our businessmen seek to automate production rather than use labour-intensive methods because labour laws and a plethora of holidays make it unattractive.
This article was originally published by The Times of India on Feb 21, 2026.
