Arpita Mukherjee

While the US remains a critical destination for Indian exporters, diversification into the EU is increasingly becoming the need of the hour.

With workers migrating back to their villages once again, it's time to take stock of India’s rural development efforts. The Rural Prosperity and Resilience Programme announced in the previous budget speech holds promise—but it needs to be designed well.

Reduced use of chemical fertilizers by farmers, as urged by India's PM, could improve the health of farm soil. What's more, it could help Indian agricultural produce enter markets like the EU that have strict sustainability norms.

America's Section 301 proposal of a 12.5% tariff may be a sign of things to come. Globally, the use of labour-related trade barriers is set to rise. Labour audits could help defend Indian exports in such testing times.

A sharp rise in the cost of living may be driving people to view online gaming as an opportunity to fill income gaps by using what they might see as their skills. Given India's ban on money games, this is risky behaviour. Can a solution be crafted?

All-electronic trade formalities can reduce costs substantially. The adoption of frameworks such as the UN Cross-border Paperless Trade Agreement can enable India to leverage its digital infrastructure and institutional capacity across the hemisphere.

New Delhi, June 25 -- The Iran conflict has made two things clear: One, a new wave of globalization is coming, like it or not, from which further

The e-commerce moratorium, a major outcome of the Work Programme on E-commerce (WPEC) at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), has been one of the driving forces of the growth of cross-border e-commerce in the world. In place since 1998, it has been renewed at successive ministerial conferences (MC) until MC 14 held during March 26-31, 2026, in Yaoundé, Cameroon. A lack of consensus amongst members led to the lapse of not only the WPEC but also the moratorium.

India is known as the “Land of Spices”. In 2024-25, India produced 12.99 million tonnes of spices, accounting for a 45 per cent share in global production. Approximately 70 to 80 per cent of this is consumed in the domestic market, with food accounting for the largest end-use. In 2025, the Indian spice market for food was valued at around USD 5.15 billion. While spices are available in various forms for foods, whole and ground single spices have a market share of 63 per cent. Around 60-80 per cent of the entire spices market is in the informal sector. While there are concerns related to food safety and standards, and micro, medium and small enterprises (MSMEs) are not able to scale up into the formal branded segment, various measures have been taken by the government to help formalise the sector and ensure food safety and standards.

As a major producer and exporter of spices, the country should aim to lead the world on food safety standards for these. But India must first get its domestic regulatory act together. Here's what needs to change.