Nine landmark trade agreements. A claimed $60 trillion in market access. A 73 percent surge in exports over five years. Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday, July 31, 2026, laid out what he called the defining scorecard of India's trade transformation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi — and the numbers he put on the board are striking.

From Two Agreements to a Global Footprint

The acceleration of India's free trade agenda under the current government marks a sharp break from the near-decade-long FTA drought that preceded it. Two agreements anchor the recent push: the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), signed in February 2022, and the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), which entered into force in December 2022. Both were designed to give Indian exporters — particularly in textiles, gems and jewellery, pharmaceuticals, and engineering goods — preferential access to high-value markets that had previously been largely shut off by tariffs.

The UAE CEPA was significant not just for its speed — negotiated in under 90 days — but as a template. It signalled that India was willing to move fast and bilaterally rather than wait for sprawling multilateral deals to mature. Australia followed, and the model began to replicate.

What the Export Surge Claim Means for MSMEs and Manufacturers

The minister's post attributes a 73 percent export surge over five years to this period of 'decisive leadership.' If the trajectory holds, the beneficiaries are concrete: Indian exporters, small and medium manufacturers, and MSMEs who gain preferential duty treatment in partner markets — lowering the price of Indian goods abroad and widening the competitive window against rivals from China, Vietnam, and Bangladesh.

The broader strategic logic is equally clear. India has sought to diversify its export base away from a handful of legacy partners, while simultaneously using trade diplomacy to embed itself deeper into global value chains — a goal that runs parallel to the Make in India initiative launched in September 2014.

EU and UK Deals: The Next Test of the Momentum

The real measure of whether this trade diplomacy era has legs will come from the two deals still on the table: negotiations with the European Union and the United Kingdom. Both have been in motion for years and carry far higher economic stakes than any bilateral agreement signed so far. A concluded FTA with the EU alone would unlock access to one of the world's largest single markets. Progress — or the lack of it — on these fronts will tell whether the nine-FTA sprint is a foundation or a ceiling.

Goyal's post frames the numbers as a 'powerful testament' to Prime Minister Modi's leadership. The Commerce Ministry's quarterly trade data, when published, will be the independent audit of that claim.