The discussion titled “Is India Keen on Taking Forward the Multilateral Trading System?”, highlighted a common policy challenge: as India’s economic weight and global trade interests grow, it will need to align its domestic priorities, FTA strategy and multilateral positions while contributing more actively to shaping an inclusive and effective global trading system.
In his opening remarks, Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS International, who moderated the discussion, emphasised the need for multilateralism in the world, which can restore an order. “The WTO is one of the vital global public goods to anchor multilateralism and hence needs protection and promotion”.
Mehta added that the formation of a coalition of countries, led by Canada and about seven more countries, which included India and Kenya, Partners for Multilateralism (P4M) is a welcome move and will help the world to regain some sense in an increasingly fragmenting world.
In this context, Mehta stressed on the importance of restoring public confidence in the multilateral trading system. “India needs open trade for its economic growth story,” he said, adding that the central question is “how do we buttress the confidence of common people, all over the world, in the WTO? How do we restore trust in the WTO?”
Former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs and a trade expert, Dammu Ravi highlighted both the resilience and the limitations of the existing rules-based system. “Despite the rules-based system being under siege, world trade has gone up,” he observed, noting that the continued prevalence of MFN-based trade indicates that many Members retain confidence in the WTO.
At the same time, Ravi argued that the system needs to respond more effectively to the concerns of the Global South and that India’s external interests and negotiating positions must evolve alongside the country’s rapid economic growth.Picking up on the points raised by Ravi and other speakers, Rajesh Aggarwal, Chairman, CUTS International, Geneva and former trade negotiator for India, highlighted the importance of greater coherence between India’s domestic economic priorities and its positions at multilateral forums.
“There is a need to better align India’s domestic agenda with its stance at multilateral platforms like WTO,” he said, pointing to the need for India to ensure that its policy ambitions are reflected consistently in its international engagement.
He also emphasised that India’s aspiration to be a voice of the Global South needs to be accompanied by an active contribution to shaping global trade rules.
The discussion also recognised that the WTO remains the broadest common rules framework for international trade, with 166 Members. According to the World Trade Report 2026, around 72 per cent of global merchandise trade continues to take place on most-favoured-nation (MFN) terms, underlining the continuing importance of multilateral trade rules even as negotiations on new disciplines have become more difficult.
Former Counsellor of India at the WTO, Aashish Chandorkar offered a broader perspective on India’s engagement with the system, noting that “India is very much keen on taking forward the multilateral trading system, and has been playing a proactive role in WTO reform discussions.”
Chandorkar, highlighted India’s pursuit of economic resilience through openness at a time when several economies are becoming more inward-looking, arguing that this approach has particular relevance for a business-oriented tier-2 city such as Jaipur.
The panel noted that the challenge is not necessarily to choose between FTAs and the WTO. India’s recent agreements with partners including the UK and EFTA demonstrate the importance of pursuing market access, while multilateral engagement provides a broader framework for predictable and non-discriminatory trade.
The discussion further examined whether plurilateral approaches within the WTO could allow willing Members to advance on specific issues while preserving transparency, inclusiveness and appropriate safeguards for Members that do not participate.
Noted trade lawyer and delegate in India’s WTO missions, R. V. Anuradha brought up the sustainability dimension into the discussion, arguing that India has an opportunity to develop a more proactive approach.
“India needs to articulate its own vision of sustainability in the trade context,” she said, emphasising that sustainability encompasses economic, environmental and social dimensions.
While India’s concern that sustainability measures should not become protectionist barriers remains important, she suggested that the country could move from a predominantly reactive approach towards greater engagement in shaping emerging trade and sustainability rules.
Moderator and NGO Adviser to the DG, WTO, Mehta cautioned that the term Sustainability has been hijacked by the West as being only environmental issues, while that is one of the three legs of the term Sustainable Development. The other two being Economy and Equity. “Raising living standards has also been incorporated in the WTO’s preamble along with sustainable development, recognising that poverty is the biggest problem which the Global South has to deal with”.
Former UN trade, environment and development expert, Veena Jha supported Mehta’s view point, and stressed why the multilateral system remains particularly important for developing and emerging economies. “Multilateralism and its corresponding benefits are needed more by developing and emerging economies, than by developed ones,” she said, adding that “Viksit Bharat needs a healthy dose of trade multilateralism.”
At the same time, she noted that negotiating dynamics under FTAs cannot simply be transferred to the WTO because the interests and available trade-offs are fundamentally different in a larger multilateral setting.
The discussion also considered the implications of trade policy for India’s broader development ambitions, including Viksit Bharat @ 2047. Predictable trade rules remain relevant for exporters, MSMEs, farmers, manufacturers and services businesses, while India’s participation in emerging initiatives such as P4M provides an avenue for contributing to wider international economic cooperation.
Mehta spoke about the CUTS’s broader campaign: “Trade, Not Just Aid (TRaNJA)” initiative, which seeks to advance dialogue on the role of trade in development, so that a “WTO for the Future is Built”.