Had insightful discussions on governance, reforms at chief secretaries' meet: PM Modi
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday chaired a national conference of chief secretaries where he had insightful discussions on various issues relating to governance and reforms, officials said.
The conference marked another important milestone in strengthening the Centre-state partnership through structured and sustained dialogue on national development priorities, they said.
"Had insightful discussions on various issues relating to governance and reforms during the National Conference of Chief Secretaries being held in Delhi," Modi wrote on X.
The event was attended by P K Mishra and Shaktikanta Das, principal secretaries to the prime minister, Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan, members of the NITI Aayog, and chief secretaries of all the states and Union territories.
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Based on the extensive deliberations between the Central ministries, departments, NITI Aayog, states and UTs and domain experts, the conference will deliberate on the theme 'Human Capital for Viksit Bharat', covering the best practices and strategies for the states and UTs to follow, over the weekend.
Special emphasis is being placed on five key areas: early childhood education, schooling, skilling, higher education, sports and extracurricular activities.
According to the schedule of the conference, six special sessions will be held over the weekend on deregulation in states; technology in governance: opportunities, risks and mitigation; agristack for smart supply chain and market linkages; one state, one world class tourist destination; Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Swadeshi and plans for a Left Wing Extremism future.
Besides, focused deliberations would be held on heritage and manuscript preservation and digitisation and 'Ayush for All - Integrating Knowledge in Primary Healthcare Delivery'.
Anchored in the prime minister's vision of cooperative federalism, the conference serves as the forum where the Centre and the states collaborate, designing a unified roadmap to maximise India's human capital potential and accelerate inclusive, future-ready growth.
The national conference of chief secretaries is being organised annually since the past four years.
The first edition was held in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, in June 2022, followed by conferences in New Delhi in January 2023, December 2023 and December 2024.
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India's exports to get boost with US cutting tariff: FM Nirmala Sitharaman
New Delhi (PTI): US President Donald Trump's decision to slash tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent augurs well for the country as it will boost exports, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Tuesday.
"So, actually our exports will pick up now, that is my expectation... along with having found new markets where they will continue to operate," she said in an interview to PTI Videos.
"It is a good augury for them (exporters)," Sitharaman said.
Trump's steep 50 per cent tariffs last year dented Indian exports by raising landed costs, squeezing exporter margins, and eroding competitiveness in the American market. Sectors such as steel, aluminium, textiles, engineering goods and some agricultural products were hit as higher duties led US buyers to shift orders to alternative suppliers.
On Monday, Trump agreed to slash US tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 50 per cent in exchange for India lowering trade barriers as well as stopping its purchases of Russian oil and instead buying oil from the US and potentially Venezuela.
On implementation, the deal would bring tariffs on India in line with most other Asian countries of around 15-19 per cent.
Sitharaman said while the details of the agreement will be announced soon, the cut in tariffs is a "good auguring" for exporters.
Taken together with the new markets exporters had tapped after becoming uncompetitive in the US, the "exports will pick up now," she said.
Earlier punitive US tariffs caused India's bilateral trade surplus with the US to shrink by USD 2.5 billion each month on average in September-December 2025 (versus the monthly average in January-August 2025), according to HSBC Global Investment Research.
There have also been USD 14 billion of equity outflows by foreign investors since July 2025 amid weak sentiment.
The new 18 per cent levy undercuts tariffs on key regional competitors such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, both facing duties of 20 per cent, restoring India's price advantage in the US market. The move offers significant relief to a broad range of labour-intensive exports, including apparel, footwear and jewellery makers, which had been hit by punitive 50 per cent tariffs imposed in August, sharply denting competitiveness and order flows.
Earlier in the day, Sitharaman had in a post on X called the tariff reduction announcement "Good news for #MadeInIndia products. They will now face reduced tariff of 18%."
Trump's announcement via a social media post late Monday night is part of a general agreement under which India has apparently agreed to stop buying Russian oil, reduce "their tariffs and non-tariff barriers against the United States to zero", and India buying an incremental USD 500 billion of "US energy, technology, agricultural, coal, and many other products" over the next five years.
The commitment to stop buying Russian oil nullifies the additional 25 per cent punitive tariff previously levied, and thereby reduces the effective applied tariff on Indian exports to the US to 18 per cent from 50 per cent.
