Surat: The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with Joint Director General of Foreign Trade, Surat, organized a seminar on ‘Export Promotion Mission, India-UK Free Trade Agreement and Relief Scheme for MSME Exporters’.
SGCCI president Nikhil Madrasi, urged the MSME industrialists and exporters to take advantage of new opportunities in the changing perspective of global trade.
SGCCI vice-president Ashok Jirawala, said during his welcome address that after the implementation of the India-UK Free Trade Agreement, various products including textiles from Surat will get easy access to the UK market. This agreement will provide India with an important platform for global trade, due to which India’s global trade will increase. This agreement will create huge opportunities for the exporters of Surat. He urged the exporters and MSME entrepreneurs of Surat to take advantage of the ECGC scheme.
Development Commissioner of Surat SEZ and Joint DGFT of Surat, Abhimanyu Sharma gave a detailed explanation of the initiatives like ‘Niriyat Protsahan’ and ‘Niriyat Disha’ under the ‘Export Promotion Mission’ to the exporters of Surat. He also gave detailed guidance on the India-UK Free Trade Agreement, highlighting the new opportunities and its benefits for the exporters.
He said that the India-UK Free Trade Agreement is an important trade agreement between India and the United Kingdom, which will make trade and investment between the two countries easier, faster and wider. This agreement will come into effect in May 2026, after which there will be a reduction or complete exemption in import and export duties on many products, which is likely to result in a significant increase in bilateral trade.
Under this agreement, textiles, diamonds, jewellery, pharmaceuticals, agricultural products, plastics and packaging, chemicals and engineering products will get more competitiveness in the UK market. This agreement will prove to be extremely beneficial especially for textile and jewellery hubs like Surat.
Currently, the UK imports textile products worth about 30 billion US dollars from around the world, while India’s contribution to it is only 2.73 billion US dollars. Hence, there is a huge opportunity for India to increase textile exports to the UK. Similarly, in the pharmaceutical sector, the UK market is about 30 billion US dollars, while India’s contribution is only 1 billion US dollars, which shows that there is a huge potential for India to increase exports in the pharma sector under the National Health System. There are huge export opportunities in the fields of chemicals and organic chemicals, plastics, medical devices, marine products and agriculture.
Sharma further said that the India-UK Free Trade Agreement will create new markets and new opportunities for business growth for Indian exporters. At the same time, a more conducive environment will be available for UK companies to invest and do business in India, which is likely to result in a significant increase in technology transfer, employment generation and industrial development. He expressed confidence that after the implementation of the India-UK FTA, exports from India to the UK will increase by an average of 50 percent in various sectors in the next five to six years.
Saurabh Jain, Head of ECGC Office Surat Branch, gave detailed guidance on the security and guarantee schemes available to Indian exporters through Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India. He said that the various schemes of ECGC prove to be very useful in effectively managing the risks arising in the export business. These schemes provide financial security to exporters and help in increasing confidence in international trade.
