World Bank's Ajay Banga Urges India: Focus on Trade Opportunities, Not Just Tariffs

• World Bank Group President Ajay Banga advises India to prioritize trade opportunities over tariffs amidst global geopolitical tensions.
• Banga highlighted India's signing of over 100 regional and bilateral trade pacts in the last two decades, citing the India-EU FTA as a key example.
• He emphasized the growing importance of emerging markets like India, whose share in global trade has doubled from 20% to 40% in two decades.
• The recently concluded India-EU FTA, dubbed the 'mother of all deals', will provide duty-free access for 93% of Indian shipments to the EU.
• This FTA will create a market of approximately 2 billion people, linking India (world's 4th largest economy) with the EU (2nd largest economic bloc).

Why It Matters: Ajay Banga urges India to leverage trade opportunities and FTAs, like the EU deal, for economic growth.