India’s Global Trade - The Need For Value Added Export Incentivization
A widening gap between services and manufacturing highlights a deeper weakness in
India’s global competitiveness.
India's export sector has long been projected as one of the defining success stories of the
past decade, marked by resilience, steady expansion, and an increasingly diversified export
basket, with total exports reaching nearly $860 billion in FY 2025-26 despite global
headwinds. Yet beneath these headline numbers lies a structural challenge: while services
exports continue to expand rapidly, manufacturing exports have struggled to deepen value
creation, raising important questions about India's long-term position in global trade. These
figures have consistently outpaced global trade growth, reinforcing the perception of a
system that is both competitive and deeply integrated into the global economy.
