The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) expects India’s merchandise exports increase around 14% to $500-510 billion in FY25 from $437 billion in 2023-24, led by technology driven sectors of exports such as machinery, electrical and electronic, automobile, pharma and biotechnology which have received a fillip from the production-linked incentive schemes.

Technology is possibly not the first thing that we consider while discussing issues in the food industry. But today, with the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), automation has become an aspect that you just can't ignore while considering food production and distribution.

India will be a USD 4 trillion economy in 2024-25 and surpass Japan by early next fiscal to become the world's fourth largest economy, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal said on Thursday. Sanyal further said that a 7 per cent economic growth rate will be a 'very good' growth rate for India, given various constraints, including the country's weak exports.

The United Nations has revised upwards India's growth projections for 2024, with the country's economy now forecast to expand by close to seven per cent this year, mainly driven by strong public investment and resilient private consumption.

The 8th round of trade agreement negotiations between India and Peru is expected to take place in July this year and will focus on lowering customs duties, addressing technical barriers to trade, and introducing dispute settlement mechanisms.

Senior officials of India and the UK held negotiations last month on the outstanding issues of the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) and the work is in progress to iron out the differences. According to the commerce ministry, the Indian team visited London from April 16-19 for negotiations.

India’s total exports (Merchandise and Services combined) in April 2024* is estimated to be USD 64.56 Billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 6.88 per cent over April 2023. Total imports (Merchandise and Services combined) in April 2024* is estimated to be USD 71.07 Billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 12.78 per cent over April 2023.

While countries in Europe and Central Asia are grappling with conflict and environmental challenges, they are well positioned to pursue the sustainable transformation of agrifood systems and have already taken steps towards achieving many of the core Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), QU Dongyu, director general, Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations, said recently in remarks opening the 34th Session of the Regional Conference for Europe and Central Asia (ERC).