India hope to sign first phase of bilateral pact with US by Oct: FM Sitharaman

The Union Finance Minister made the statement during an interaction with the Indian diaspora in the US.

San Francisco: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said India is "actively engaging" with the new US administration and hopes to conclude the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement "positively" by fall (September-October) this year.

"We are one of the countries which is actively engaged with the new administration of the United States of America to see how best we can get a bilateral trade agreement done," she said during an interaction with the Indian diaspora here.

Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to launch talks for a bilateral trade deal amid the lurking fear of reciprocal tariff being imposed by Washington.

"Equally, the priority that we gave to engage with the government here is more than obviously seen with the Prime Minister himself visiting the United States in February. You had the Commerce and Trade Minister come. I have come here because I also have the IMF and World Bank meeting.

"I am scheduled to meet the treasury secretary, my counterpart here. So the keenness with which we are engaging with the US administration, even as I talk, I think the US vice-president is in India. He will be engaging with the Prime Minister hopefully this evening or tomorrow," she said.

The US and India have aimed for a bilateral trade agreement (BTA), which is a kind of free trade pact. The two have decided to conclude the proposed BTA in two tranches or phases.

"So, the long and short of engaging with the US is not just reciprocal tariff-related matter but in the interest of keeping an agreement in mind and in the interest of one of the largest trading partners with whim we need to have agreement we are working in order that by the fall this year we should have first phase of agreement signed," she said.

The US President announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs (or import duties) on a number of countries, including India and China, on April 2.

However, on April 9, he announced a 90-day suspension of these tariffs until July 9 this year, except for those on China and Hong Kong, as about 75 countries approached America for trade deals. China is facing up to 245 per cent duty on its goods entering the US.

"In between all this, the Assistant USTR (US Trade Representative) had visited India to see the progress or to engage with the negotiating team who is dealing with the tariff-related negotiation and the bilateral trade agreement that we want to sign. In fact, the progress of the agreement, or the trade agreement that we are working on, at least a first tranche is something which we hope to conclude positively by the fall this year," she said.

Responding to a query on India's future global leadership and how the current budget supports this ambition, Sitharaman highlighted India's progress in critical areas like semiconductors, renewable energy -- including modular nuclear energy -- digital infrastructure, and artificial intelligence (AI).

She further said the government at the Centre is working with the objective to make India a developed nation by 2047.

"Our government's primary focus is Viksit Bharat by 2047 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasised that it can be achieved by looking after the four main 'castes' -- Women, Poor, Youth and Farmers," she said.

India's focus is also on the 'Sunrise Sectors' which are important to build our capacities and areas such as Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) where India has emerged as a global leader, she said.