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India's Trade Agreements Were Signed for Businesses Like Yours.

2026-06-09 · 4 min read · By Provenance

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India's MSME sector accounts for 31 percent of GDP, nearly half of the country's exports, and over 32 crore jobs. It is the economic foundation on which India's global trade ambitions rest. When New Delhi negotiates with Brussels, London, or Tokyo, it negotiates on behalf of a garment manufacturer in Tirupur, a leather goods producer in Agra, a spice exporter in Kerala, and an auto-component supplier in Pune.

The trade agreements India has signed in recent years were structured to benefit precisely these businesses. Preferential tariff access, simplified customs procedures, mutual recognition of standards, and dedicated MSME chapters in newer agreements. The terms exist for Indian businesses of every size.

India's recent FTAs have been among the most commercially ambitious the country has negotiated. The India-EU FTA, concluded in January 2026, covers 99 percent of Indian exports by trade value. The India-UK CETA has been in force since May 2025. The India-Australia ECTA has achieved the highest utilisation rate of India's recent agreements, demonstrating what is possible when exporters engage with an agreement systematically.

Systematic engagement is the operative phrase. Every trade agreement has its own requirements, its own documentation procedures, its own issuing agencies, and its own regulatory environment in the destination market. A business exporting to three different FTA markets is navigating three different compliance frameworks simultaneously. For an MSME without a dedicated trade compliance function, this is a significant operational burden that compounds with every new agreement India signs.

Provenance was built to carry that burden.

We work with Indian exporters across textiles, leather, engineering goods, gems and jewellery, chemicals, and food products. We manage compliance end to end, so your team focuses on production and relationships rather than paperwork and portal submissions.

If your business exports to any market covered by India's active trade agreements, we should talk.

Get in touch with our team to begin your assessment.