Modi ditches protectionism for deals

Trade policy is the story here — and the stakes are simple. India wants faster growth, more factory investment, and a bigger place in global supply chains. For years, Narendra Modi’s government often looked cautious on free trade, leaning on tariffs and “self-reliance” language. Now the (commerce.gov.in)g India look more open for business. (bloomberg.com)mmerce ministry says the agreement gives 99% of Indian exports duty-free access to the UK market, while the two sides want to double bilateral trade from roughly $56 billion by 2030. That is not a symbolic memorandum. It is a real market-opening deal, and it gives Modi something he did not have a few years ago — proof that India can sign a broad trade agreement with a big developed economy. (commerce.gov.in) other way. India pulled out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in 2019, and the government spent years defending tariffs as a way to protect domestic industry and build local manufacturing. Bloomberg’s framing is basically that Modi is now doing something more pragmatic: keeping industrial policy, but dropping the idea that protectionism alone can carry India. (bloomberg.com)ternatives to China. Governments are redrawing supply chains around resilience and politics, not just cost. That creates an opening for India — but only if India looks easier to trade with. Economic Times had already noted New Delhi accelerating reforms and trade talks as it tried to shield itself from external tariff shocks and capture more manufacturing investment. Bilateral deals are the tool that lets India open selectively instead of throwing every sector wide open at once. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) ### Why bilateral deals, not a giant global pact? Because bilateral deals give India more control. New Delhi can protect sensitive sectors, bargain product by product, and sequence concessions. Think of it less like opening all the doors in a building at once and more like choosing which rooms to unlock first. That fits Modi’s style — cautious, transactional, and politically easier to sell at home. The catch is that it is slower and messier than joining one mega-regional bloc. (bloomberg.com)ays Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar are heading into a packed May diplomatic stretch, with Jaishankar beginning a May 2-10 trip to Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Trade is not the only agenda item, but this wider outreach helps India pitch itself as a serious economic and strategic partner across regions, not just a giant domestic market behind tariff walls. (thehindu.com)s into actual investment and export growth. On May 2, Modi approved R. Balasubramaniam and Joram Aniya as full-time NITI Aayog members, bringing the roster to seven. That is not a trade headline by itself. But it shows the government reinforcing the planning and reform apparatus just as it tries to present a more outward-facing economic strategy. (pib.gov.in) ### What is the politica(thehindu.com)s will rise faster than exports. Modi is trying to square that circle by selling these deals as pro-India rather than pro-globalization — more jobs, more factories, more leverage. If growth follows, the strategy looks smart. If not, the old protectionist instincts can come back fast. (bloomberg.com) ### Bottom(pib.gov.in)an and more political — opening the economy in carefully chosen chunks. But that still marks a real shift. India is no longer just defending itself from global trade. It is trying to use trade deals to climb.