The government has an open mind and will engage with industry and possibly China to take a call on loosening investment scrutiny for countries that share a land border with India, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said. In a freewheeling discussion with Deepshikha Sikarwar at The ET Startup Awards event, he said various trade pacts are nearing the finish line, while those with the US and European Union are progressing well. Edited excerpts:
What are the trade deals that we expect to see this year?
There is a huge appetite for entering into trading arrangements with India. We are talking to the European Union, the US and New Zealand. We’re in dialogue with Australia for the second tranche. I have negotiations going on with Chile, Peru and Eurasia. There are three or four more countries in the pipeline which want to start negotiation, but we have completely run out of bandwidth.
But when is the big one coming—the one that President Trump just mentioned is about to be finalised?
I don’t think it’s a question about big or small. It’s a question about our national interest. Wherever we get a good, fair and equitable deal, India will be ready to put signature on paper. I think we are at an advanced stage of discussions, both with the European Union and the US. We will probably also conclude Oman and New Zealand very soon. Chile is very keen to conclude quickly. So, I think almost all these five FTAs would run parallelly. Let’s see how the dates and days pan out but very good progress is being made. The one common thread is that India today negotiates with developed countries, advanced economies and wants to sit at the high table and contribute to their future, as we would like them to contribute to our journey to Viksit Bharat 2047.
Also Read: ET Startup Awards 2025: Maturing startups celebrate being the stock of the town
What’s happening with the United States? The industry feels 15% tariffs would be a good deal for India.
The important element will be, what will be the comparative advantage India will have over its competitors? Tariffs are not paid by Indians. They are paid by the Americans. So, the negotiation is always to find that competitive edge which will help us grow our business. We have an ambitious target with the United States to double our engagement on goods and services to about $500 billion by 2030. I think we will be well-positioned to achieve that.
And where are we in negotiations?
Raaz ko raaz hi rehne do (Let the secret remain a secret).
Is there a realignment required in India’s trade strategy after we exited the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations?
We have to be dynamic and engage with different countries based on different situations. And our own interest (is to) have resilient supply chains for our rare earth requirements, so we continue to see the evolving situation around the world and decide our trading strategies. As of now, I can assure you that there is absolutely no rethinking on RCEP. The RCEP was a bad policy decision of the Congress and the UPA government to enter into negotiations. In fact, we were never a part of the RCEP’s original scheme of things. Effectively, we were offering to enter into an FTA with China. To date, I have not found any businessperson who acknowledges that China offers you fair trading practices where you can engage on competitive terms and benefit mutually. It would have been a one-sided benefit for China. India would have lost out big time.
Lately we’ve seen some thaw in relations with China, especially, there’s been some development on rare earth supply…
Of course, we have been engaging with China for years, and engagement was pretty much normal until 2020 (before the Galwan border standoff and Covid). Now that the border dispute is being largely taken care of, we’ve had the defence minister and foreign minister visit China. As a part of the SCO summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also went though it was not a bilateral visit. If things get normalised, it will be good for everybody.
Also Read: ET Startup Awards 2025: Shark Tank trained me for public scrutiny: Lenskart's Peyush Bansal
Is there a rethink on Press Note 3?
We have an open mind and with an open mind, we will see. We will engage with industry, other ministries and possibly with China, and then decide whether we can loosen the investment scrutiny.
The first wave of startups are maturing, many are getting listed. How do you see the startup ecosystem?
We’ve only just begun. The government has been on the forefront, playing on the front foot to support the startup ecosystem through a variety of policy initiatives and funding. We’ve already announced the second leg of the Startup Fund of Funds, the second tranche, which will be largely focusing on deeptech innovations and startups. The research and development initiative also got a leg up with a Rs 1 lakh crore fund.
When we talk of1 lakh crore government support, when you supplement that with private sector investments, the figure grows. And then when you see the cost of innovation in India versus the cost of innovation in let’s say Europe or America, you have a 7-8x multiplier there. So, you are really seeding with Rs 1 lakh crore government funding, nearly Rs 10 lakh crore worth of innovation in the country. That’s huge.
Is there any thinking in the government on whether to allow funding support from pension funds and sovereign wealth funds to startups?
I think so. I think we are all pretty much convinced that we'll have to look at supporting the startup or our innovation ecosystem in different ways. One of the methods could be our large pool of capital with insurance companies and pension funds or provident fund capital being also deployed, particularly giving us a huge amount of success stories that our startups are seeing.
How do you see Indian startups scaling up in AI, semiconductor chips and high-tech area?
Frankly, today’s (Friday’s) engagement with the deeptech ecosystem was truly an eye-opener for me. I also learnt about the wonderful work being done in quantum computing, and I heard about a lot of promising efforts in applied artificial intelligence modules and platforms. Cybersecurity, too, is gaining traction among many of our startups. A number of Indians are looking to re-engage with India, and I can see a reverse flow of talent from Silicon Valley and Europe.
Even during my travels, I meet many people who tell me they want to come back to India because of the sheer demand generated by 1.4 billion Indians and the fact that the ecosystem is maturing very rapidly. Today, listing in India is far more profitable and exciting than anywhere else — maybe excluding the US. But even in the US, it’s just a club of 10 companies; without them, the others do not enjoy similar valuations. So, India is increasingly becoming a preferred destination for modern technologies and deeptech. This will be a journey that takes a bit of time to fully develop, but once it takes off, the sky is the limit. And from what I’ve seen and heard today, I’m very excited about the road ahead.
Will it require some form of regulatory support, or more funding from the government?
For funding support, we are always there and ready. On regulatory support, at least I personally believe the less the regulation on the industry, the more successful it will be.
Domestic capital in startups that you have championed hasn’t reached the stage it should have. What can be done?
There’s a lot more to be done. I’ve been trying to persuade large family offices in India or domestic industry, domestic investors, to look at putting up much larger pools of capital for the startup ecosystem. I’m particularly keen that we create pooled capital so that it can reach even remote corners of India, it can reach tier-two and -three cities because, very often, just family offices will not be able to meet the larger needs of the startup ecosystem. I do hope in the years to come we’ll see greater degrees of domestic capital flowing into startups. I would love to see more of our innovation, more of our new research staying within India, and the fruits of that also staying within.
Is there a need to revisit foreign investment rules to further perk up investment flows into India?
I don’t see any slowdown in foreign direct investment. On the contrary, the figures up to July or August that I last saw, there is a significant bump up in the FDI flows. Having said that, I certainly believe we need to continuously evolve our processes so we are looking at both FDI and FII flows and how we can make it easier for money to flow into the country.
After the sweeping goods and services reforms, what are the next set of measures expected to shield the economy from geo-economic uncertainties?
We’ve had a game changing, and I think the largest, reform package in indirect taxation. The journey from 2017 (when GST was introduced) to 2025 has been exciting, culminating in the current year's transformational impact and promoting consumer spending in a big way. This will be a continuous process in several directions. We want to become a developed economy, a prosperous economy. We want the economy to be inclusive and sustainable in its growth journey. And towards that end, I think newer ideas are going to be a continuous process.
What are the trade deals that we expect to see this year?
There is a huge appetite for entering into trading arrangements with India. We are talking to the European Union, the US and New Zealand. We’re in dialogue with Australia for the second tranche. I have negotiations going on with Chile, Peru and Eurasia. There are three or four more countries in the pipeline which want to start negotiation, but we have completely run out of bandwidth.
But when is the big one coming—the one that President Trump just mentioned is about to be finalised?
I don’t think it’s a question about big or small. It’s a question about our national interest. Wherever we get a good, fair and equitable deal, India will be ready to put signature on paper. I think we are at an advanced stage of discussions, both with the European Union and the US. We will probably also conclude Oman and New Zealand very soon. Chile is very keen to conclude quickly. So, I think almost all these five FTAs would run parallelly. Let’s see how the dates and days pan out but very good progress is being made. The one common thread is that India today negotiates with developed countries, advanced economies and wants to sit at the high table and contribute to their future, as we would like them to contribute to our journey to Viksit Bharat 2047.
Also Read: ET Startup Awards 2025: Maturing startups celebrate being the stock of the town
What’s happening with the United States? The industry feels 15% tariffs would be a good deal for India.
The important element will be, what will be the comparative advantage India will have over its competitors? Tariffs are not paid by Indians. They are paid by the Americans. So, the negotiation is always to find that competitive edge which will help us grow our business. We have an ambitious target with the United States to double our engagement on goods and services to about $500 billion by 2030. I think we will be well-positioned to achieve that.
And where are we in negotiations?
Raaz ko raaz hi rehne do (Let the secret remain a secret).
Is there a realignment required in India’s trade strategy after we exited the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations?
We have to be dynamic and engage with different countries based on different situations. And our own interest (is to) have resilient supply chains for our rare earth requirements, so we continue to see the evolving situation around the world and decide our trading strategies. As of now, I can assure you that there is absolutely no rethinking on RCEP. The RCEP was a bad policy decision of the Congress and the UPA government to enter into negotiations. In fact, we were never a part of the RCEP’s original scheme of things. Effectively, we were offering to enter into an FTA with China. To date, I have not found any businessperson who acknowledges that China offers you fair trading practices where you can engage on competitive terms and benefit mutually. It would have been a one-sided benefit for China. India would have lost out big time.
Lately we’ve seen some thaw in relations with China, especially, there’s been some development on rare earth supply…
Of course, we have been engaging with China for years, and engagement was pretty much normal until 2020 (before the Galwan border standoff and Covid). Now that the border dispute is being largely taken care of, we’ve had the defence minister and foreign minister visit China. As a part of the SCO summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also went though it was not a bilateral visit. If things get normalised, it will be good for everybody.
Also Read: ET Startup Awards 2025: Shark Tank trained me for public scrutiny: Lenskart's Peyush Bansal
Is there a rethink on Press Note 3?
We have an open mind and with an open mind, we will see. We will engage with industry, other ministries and possibly with China, and then decide whether we can loosen the investment scrutiny.
The first wave of startups are maturing, many are getting listed. How do you see the startup ecosystem?
We’ve only just begun. The government has been on the forefront, playing on the front foot to support the startup ecosystem through a variety of policy initiatives and funding. We’ve already announced the second leg of the Startup Fund of Funds, the second tranche, which will be largely focusing on deeptech innovations and startups. The research and development initiative also got a leg up with a Rs 1 lakh crore fund.
When we talk of
Is there any thinking in the government on whether to allow funding support from pension funds and sovereign wealth funds to startups?
I think so. I think we are all pretty much convinced that we'll have to look at supporting the startup or our innovation ecosystem in different ways. One of the methods could be our large pool of capital with insurance companies and pension funds or provident fund capital being also deployed, particularly giving us a huge amount of success stories that our startups are seeing.
How do you see Indian startups scaling up in AI, semiconductor chips and high-tech area?
Frankly, today’s (Friday’s) engagement with the deeptech ecosystem was truly an eye-opener for me. I also learnt about the wonderful work being done in quantum computing, and I heard about a lot of promising efforts in applied artificial intelligence modules and platforms. Cybersecurity, too, is gaining traction among many of our startups. A number of Indians are looking to re-engage with India, and I can see a reverse flow of talent from Silicon Valley and Europe.
Even during my travels, I meet many people who tell me they want to come back to India because of the sheer demand generated by 1.4 billion Indians and the fact that the ecosystem is maturing very rapidly. Today, listing in India is far more profitable and exciting than anywhere else — maybe excluding the US. But even in the US, it’s just a club of 10 companies; without them, the others do not enjoy similar valuations. So, India is increasingly becoming a preferred destination for modern technologies and deeptech. This will be a journey that takes a bit of time to fully develop, but once it takes off, the sky is the limit. And from what I’ve seen and heard today, I’m very excited about the road ahead.
Will it require some form of regulatory support, or more funding from the government?
For funding support, we are always there and ready. On regulatory support, at least I personally believe the less the regulation on the industry, the more successful it will be.
Domestic capital in startups that you have championed hasn’t reached the stage it should have. What can be done?
There’s a lot more to be done. I’ve been trying to persuade large family offices in India or domestic industry, domestic investors, to look at putting up much larger pools of capital for the startup ecosystem. I’m particularly keen that we create pooled capital so that it can reach even remote corners of India, it can reach tier-two and -three cities because, very often, just family offices will not be able to meet the larger needs of the startup ecosystem. I do hope in the years to come we’ll see greater degrees of domestic capital flowing into startups. I would love to see more of our innovation, more of our new research staying within India, and the fruits of that also staying within.
Is there a need to revisit foreign investment rules to further perk up investment flows into India?
I don’t see any slowdown in foreign direct investment. On the contrary, the figures up to July or August that I last saw, there is a significant bump up in the FDI flows. Having said that, I certainly believe we need to continuously evolve our processes so we are looking at both FDI and FII flows and how we can make it easier for money to flow into the country.
After the sweeping goods and services reforms, what are the next set of measures expected to shield the economy from geo-economic uncertainties?
We’ve had a game changing, and I think the largest, reform package in indirect taxation. The journey from 2017 (when GST was introduced) to 2025 has been exciting, culminating in the current year's transformational impact and promoting consumer spending in a big way. This will be a continuous process in several directions. We want to become a developed economy, a prosperous economy. We want the economy to be inclusive and sustainable in its growth journey. And towards that end, I think newer ideas are going to be a continuous process.
