Budget’s export focus, customs reforms to help firms better tap trade deals

Representative image

• Budget aims to boost exports by easing customs and reducing compliance.
• Measures target manufacturing, services, SEZs, and labour-intensive sectors
• Boosting logistics and tech spending to cut export transaction costs

Did our AI summary help?

The Union Budget for 2026-27 has laid out steps that will help boost India’s export competitiveness by easing customs procedures and reducing compliance, helping domestic manufacturers better tap recent free trade agreements, government officials said.

"Initiatives in the Budget will facilitate exports by reducing compliance burdens through easier custom processes. This will help domestic manufacturing and enable them to take full advantage of recent FTAs," Amardeep Bhatia, Secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), said.

Responding on the measures in the Budget, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said that

the steps pertaining to trade facilitation will improve export competitiveness by reducing costs, while the relief proposed for SEZ units over limited access to domestic market will enable such units to achieve economies of scale and help in import substitution.

"The steps taken towards strengthening services sector and sectoral initiatives in semiconductor, marine, textiles, leather and other labour intensive sectors will also help grow exports in these sectors," Agrawal added.

"There are a number of steps in the Budget that will attract foreign investments," Bhatia added.

The Budget for the next financial year proposed a series of measures focussing on export competitiveness by scaling domestic manufacturing in strategic and labour-intensive sectors while reducing import dependence.

Measures span manufacturing, services, Special Economic Zones, logistics, infrastructure and ease of doing business, with targeted initiatives for sectors such as semiconductors, electronics, biopharma, textiles, gems and jewellery, and MSMEs.

Reforms in customs, trade facilitation and SEZ operations were also announced to lower costs, improve scale and enhance the overall efficiency of exporters.

Alongside manufacturing, the services sector and trade-enabling infrastructure received a policy push.

Reforms to support IT and IT-enabled services, incentives for cloud and data-centre operations, and steps to attract global capability centres were unveiled aiming to expand services exports.

Increased capital expenditure on logistics, transport and connectivity, coupled with technology-driven regulatory simplification, is expected to reduce transaction costs and support sustained export growth over the medium to long term.