From Nagpur to London: Vidarbha’s New Export Playbook Under CETA

A new trade route is opening between Nagpur and London. With the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) now in effect, Vidarbha exporters are looking to the United Kingdom as a major market, drawn by near duty-free access to one of the world’s largest premium markets. The Nag Vidarbha Chamber of Commerce (NVCC), which represents 13 lakh traders in the region, said the deal could change the prospects of traders across Vidarbha.

NVCC secretary Hemant Sarda said the region needs stronger support to make the most of the new opening. ‘If the govt improves export infrastructure here, it will help increase exports of goods and services from Vidarbha. Trade agreements like CETA make products from here competitive,’ Sarda said, framing infrastructure as the missing piece between tariff access and actual export growth.

NVCC former president Ashwin Mehadia said reduced tariffs would open new avenues of international trade for the region, while vice-president Swapnil Ahirkar pointed to an existing base of rice, pharma, textiles and minerals exports, alongside an emerging services export sector, that Vidarbha traders can now scale up under the agreement.

The tariff cuts under CETA are substantial: 99% of India’s tariff lines will enter the UK duty-free from day one. Gems and jewellery tariffs fall from 4% to zero, pharmaceuticals from 8% to zero, iron and steel from 10% to zero, and textiles from 12% to zero, while agricultural products get 95% duty-free access on agreed tariff lines. A first jewellery consignment worth about USD 10 million was already shipped to the UK as the pact came into force, involving 27 exporters from six major jewellery centres.

At the CETA announcement event in Mumbai, principal secretary (industries) P Anbalagan said the state’s export push had reached far beyond its traditional industrial belt, with close to 300 district export promotion council meetings held across Maharashtra, including in Amravati, Nagpur and Akola, drawing about 1.5 lakh participants and extending into districts such as Gondia and Bhandara. He said seven to nine districts currently account for more than 70% of the state’s exports, and the goal is to widen that base.

Trade between India and the UK stands at nearly USD 56 billion today, with both countries aiming to double that figure by 2030.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons / Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (GODL-India)