Public-Private Consultative Bodies and Business Councils in India

Overview

Public-private consultative bodies and business councils act as institutional bridges between the government and enterprises. They help shape trade policy, improve industrial standards, support investment promotion, and provide structured feedback from industry and professional bodies.

For Prelims revision, the focus should be on the composition, mandate, chairmanship, and recent notifications relating to these bodies.

Apex National Consultative Platforms

• Board of Trade (BOT): Reconstituted by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on June 2, 2026, through DGFT Notification No. 18/2026-2027. It is India’s apex consultative platform for Foreign Trade Policy formulation.
• BOT membership: Its nominated non-official membership was expanded from 29 to 40, bringing in experts from manufacturing, exports, logistics, banking, technology, agriculture, and healthcare.
• Professional bodies in BOT: The Presidents of ICAI, ICSI, and ICMAI are also included among the members.
• National Startup Advisory Council (NSAC): Chaired by the Minister for Commerce & Industry, with the Joint Secretary of DPIIT as convener.
• NSAC tenure: Non-official members are nominated for a two-year term.
• NSAC reconstitution: The council was reconstituted on December 18, 2023, with 31 nominated non-official members.
• NSAC meetings: It had conducted 10 meetings as of December 31, 2025.
• Startup recognition threshold: DPIIT revised the official startup recognition turnover threshold from ₹100 crore to ₹200 crore through Gazette Notification 108(E) on February 4, 2026.

Trade Facilitation and Investment Governance

• National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF): Chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, it oversees implementation of the National Trade Facilitation Action Plan (NTFAP) 3.0 (2024–2027).
• NCTF purpose: The committee works to align cross-border trade operations with global standards.
• National Time Release Study (NTRS) 2026: Under NCTF guidance, CBIC conducted the study from January 1 to January 7, 2026.
• NTRS objective: It measures cargo clearance times against WTO targets.
• Invest India: Operating under DPIIT, it is India’s national investment promotion and facilitation agency.
• Leadership: It is led by MD and CEO Nivruti Rai.
• Investment facilitation: During the 2025-26 fiscal year, it facilitated the grounding of over USD 6.1 billion in investments across 14 states.
• Source of inflows: 42% of these inflows came from European nations.

Bilateral Business Councils and Tech Forums

• India-U.S. CEO Forum: Co-chaired by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
• Private-sector co-chairs: N. Chandrasekaran of Tata Sons and James Taiclet of Lockheed Martin lead the business side.
• Forum structure: It operates across seven working groups to provide trade recommendations.
• Nasscom US CEO Forum: Launched on July 10, 2025, in New York to build technology partnerships.
• Trade target: The forum is aligned with a USD 500 billion bilateral trade target.
• Leadership: It is chaired by Ravi Kumar S, CEO of Cognizant, with Amit Chadha, CEO & MD of L&T Technology Services, as Vice Chair.
• India-UK JETCO: Reset in October 2025 to support governance and implementation of the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
• CETA and DCC: The CETA and a reciprocal Double Contributions Convention entered into force on July 15, 2026.
• Tariff significance: The agreement reduces tariffs on 99% of Indian goods entering the UK and 90% of UK goods entering India.
• India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC): Governed under the “Towards 2030: A Joint India-European Union Comprehensive Strategic Agenda” adopted on January 27, 2026.
• TTC meeting: The third ministerial-level meeting was held in Brussels in July 2026.
• EU-India Tech Business Forum: The inaugural forum was held on June 4, 2026, in New Delhi.
• Forum focus areas: Semiconductors, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data governance, and digital public infrastructure.

Leadership of Apex Industry Chambers

• CII: R. Mukundan, MD & CEO of Tata Chemicals Limited, serves as President for the 2026-27 term.
• CII line-up: Dr. Suchitra K. Ella is President-Designate and Shashwat Goenka is Vice President.
• FICCI: Anant Goenka, Vice Chairman of RPG Group, serves as President for 2025-26.
• FICCI assumption of office: He assumed office on November 29, 2025.
• FICCI team: Vijay Sankar is Senior Vice President and Puneet Dalmia is Vice President.
• ASSOCHAM: Nirmal Kumar Minda, Executive Chairman of Uno Minda Group, is President.
• ASSOCHAM tenure: He took office in October 2025, succeeding Sanjay Nayyar.
• ASSOCHAM leadership: Amitabh Chaudhry, MD & CEO of Axis Bank, serves as Senior Vice President.

Key Prelims Takeaways

• Board of Trade: India’s apex consultative platform for Foreign Trade Policy, with 40 nominated non-official members after the June 2, 2026 reconstitution.
• NSAC: Chaired by the Commerce & Industry Minister and supported by the Joint Secretary, DPIIT as convener.
• Startup definition: DPIIT updated the turnover threshold for startup recognition to ₹200 crore in February 2026.
• NCTF: Chaired by the Cabinet Secretary and linked to NTFAP 3.0 (2024–2027).
• NTRS 2026: Conducted by CBIC from January 1 to January 7, 2026, to assess cargo clearance time.
• India-UK CETA: Entered into force on July 15, 2026, along with the Double Contributions Convention.
• Invest India: Facilitates investment promotion under DPIIT and reported over USD 6.1 billion grounded investments in 2025-26.