Ministry of Commerce & Industry Stakeholder Workshop on Trade Reforms
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) organized a stakeholder workshop on Ease of Doing Business, Free Trade Agreement opportunities, and ongoing trade-related reforms at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi on September 22, 2026. The workshop included an interactive session with Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal and Minister of State Shri Jitin Prasada, bringing together representatives from industry associations, trade bodies, sectoral organizations, and senior officials from DPIIT and the Department of Commerce.
Minister Goyal outlined the government's approach to strengthening export facilitation through both physical and digital mechanisms. He announced plans for integrated Commerce and Industry offices in major cities to provide businesses with a common point of access to multiple departments and agencies, rather than establishing separate offices for every department in every location. Additionally, he proposed a network of approximately 1,000 trained local personnel with knowledge of regional languages to support exporters and prospective exporters at the district and State levels. These personnel would be trained and deployed to provide handholding support to businesses through industry chambers and regional associations.
The roller chain and industrial components manufacturing sector reported significant positive impacts from recent policy interventions, including a 15-fold expansion in the sector, fresh investments of approximately ₹500 crore, and the generation of around 5,000 new jobs. The industry specifically credited Quality Control Orders (QCOs), Minimum Import Price (MIP) provisions, and higher import duties for supporting domestic manufacturing capacity, encouraging investment, and creating employment opportunities.
Minister Goyal also introduced the Trade Connect platform currently under development, which will provide exporters with product-wise and HSN-code-wise information including destination-country tariffs, FTA opportunities, and procedures for availing FTA benefits. The platform is envisaged to use digital and AI-enabled tools to help businesses identify potential export opportunities and infrastructure gaps.
DPIIT officials presented key initiatives relating to Startup India, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), investment facilitation, the National Single Window System, industrial infrastructure, and reforms relating to the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO). These presentations highlighted measures for simplification and rationalization of regulatory processes, digitalization, reduction of compliance burden, and improvement in approval and service delivery mechanisms.
Industry representatives from sectors including pharmaceuticals, textiles, man-made fibres, copper, automotive and engineering, air-conditioners, logistics, MSMEs, and women entrepreneurs raised several practical concerns. They highlighted the need for greater interoperability between government systems and foreign trade platforms, including digital transmission and verification of Certificates of Origin under FTAs, with a proposal to extend such electronic processes to other FTA partners. Industry also emphasized the need for further integration of the export cycle involving the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Customs, banks, and other stakeholders.
Specific challenges discussed included logistics and trade-process bottlenecks such as documentation backlogs and concerns relating to sea-freight costs. Sector-specific issues covered rules of origin and imports, export quality and regulatory processes, import competition, testing and certification infrastructure, and regulatory certainty for MSMEs. The importance of quality and adherence to international standards for strengthening India's export credibility was emphasized, with industry associations and Export Promotion Councils encouraged to support awareness and compliance with destination-market standards.
The workshop reaffirmed the government's emphasis on government-industry partnership in addressing practical barriers to trade, strengthening domestic manufacturing and supply chains, and facilitating greater participation of Indian enterprises in global markets. This interaction marked the first such engagement with a regional industry association and is part of the government's continuing efforts to strengthen the Ease of Doing Business framework and enable Indian industry to effectively utilize opportunities arising from India's expanding network of Free Trade Agreements.