India Trains Over 80,000 Global South Participants in Trade Capacity Building Since 2014

India has trained over 80,000 participants from partner countries on trade-related capacity building under its flagship Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme since 2014. This includes over 430 trade officials and diplomats who have participated in specialised courses covering World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, trade policy, and negotiations.

In a recent communication submitted to the WTO committee on trade and development, India outlined its various initiatives aimed at sharing expertise in trade policy, customs modernisation, and trade facilitation with the global south. The submission highlights that India's developmental co-operation model is comprehensive, incorporating multiple instruments such as grants-in-aid, concessional lines of credit, capacity-building, and technical assistance.

The Centre for WTO Studies (CWS) at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) has played a key role in this effort. Since April 2021, CWS has conducted 18 trade-related ITEC courses, training more than 430 international participants and trade diplomats on WTO and trade policy matters.

Additionally, CWS has executed specialised programmes based on specific requests from developing country governments, addressing issues such as trade policy, accession procedures, and trade negotiations. The CWS also launched an online capacity-building programme focused on trade issues in November 2025, which remains accessible to participants from developing nations across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

In the domain of customs administration and trade facilitation, assistance has been delivered via the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (NACIN), which serves as the flagship training institute of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. Since 2021, NACIN has conducted over 30 international training programmes covering approximately 700 participants under various frameworks.

These training initiatives have supported partner customs administrations in improving capabilities related to trade facilitation, customs procedures, compliance, risk management, and the implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. NACIN functions as the World Customs Organization (WCO) Regional Training Centre for the Asia-Pacific region and has engaged in capacity-building activities under South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) and BRICS frameworks.

Overall, the trade-related training programmes have addressed several critical areas, including WTO-TFA implementation, digital customs, risk management systems, time release studies, coordinated border management, export controls, and environment-linked trade measures like green customs.

"India's structured approach to trade capacity building through institutions like IIFT and NACIN demonstrates a long-term commitment to global economic cooperation. For businesses and entrepreneurs, understanding trade facilitation, customs modernisation, and international WTO frameworks is critical as cross-border supply chains and regulatory standards continue to evolve across developing markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes