It has been a rather quiet week for Indian exports, as stakeholders braced themselves for the Union Budget. However, it has also been a mostly positive week for the sector, with good news coming in from various quarters. The Commerce Ministry announced that it is now seeking the views of all concerned stakeholders in preparation for the next Foreign Trade Policy, while also revealing that the government had greenlit fresh recapitalization of the Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank) of India. Meanwhile, following positive meetings between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at last week’s G20 Summit, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) will send senior officials to New Delhi next week to resume trade talks between the two nations. Resolution of lingering trade tensions between the two will be high on the agenda, especially in the wake of news this week that tea shipments from India to Iran trebled in Jan-April this year, despite US sanctions on the Middle-Eastern nation. At the time of writing this, the Hon’ble Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had yet to announce any key policies/decisions regarding the trade sector as part of the Union Budget. The Budget appears to be more domestic-focused this year; in which case, positive developments such as those mentioned above will likely be important stabilizing influences to calm exporter worry in the coming weeks.