India and US Near Completion of Trade Pact with Preferential Market Access Framework
Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal said the India-US trade agreement is essentially finalised and a preferential access framework is being drafted.
Speaking at the Global Fintech Fest 2026, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal announced that the India-United States trade pact is “more or less” finalised, with negotiations now focused on a framework that would grant preferential market access while accommodating the United States’ executive-tariff system and India’s MFN rates. He said businesses on both sides are already active and satisfied with the overall understanding.
Agarwal added that the India-Chile free-trade agreement is in its final stage and an India-New Zealand agreement could be signed as early as October. Emphasising fintech, he outlined ambitions to leverage India’s digital-payments expertise to serve the Global South, reduce migrant-worker remittance costs from 5-6 % to 3 %, and grow fintech services exports to potentially $60-80 billion. He cited India’s $5 billion share of global e-commerce trade and nine trade deals covering economies worth $60 trillion as a foundation for this growth.
