India’s moment at the global trade table

What are your top priorities as Chair of the ICC, particularly for India?

My two overriding priorities as ICC Chair are ensuring that the governance of artificial intelligence in global commerce is built on neutral, interoperable rules, not fragmented national regimes, and making the tools and standards of the ICC accessible to small and medium-sized businesses, not just the largest multinationals.

We are not asking any country to surrender its sovereignty or adopt someone else’s framework wholesale. What we are saying is that there is space for a neutral, business-grounded set of principles that every country can align to without having to choose geopolitical sides. The ICC has done this before. International Commercial Terms (Incoterms) were never legislated by any government. They were adopted because they worked, they were neutral, and they were trusted. That is the model we are applying to AI governance. Once governments have invested politically in their national AI frameworks, built regulatory agencies, trained the compliance industry, and embedded the rules in bilateral agreements, harmonisation becomes exponentially harder. The window to act is the next 2-3 years.

The ICC is deploying the Digital Standards Initiative (DSI) through this critical period. An estimated 80-90 per cent of global trade documentation – bills of lading, certificates of origin and letters of credit – is still paper-based. Paper-based trade is inherently fragile: it depends on the physical movement of documents, manual verification and processes that break down immediately when there is a port disruption, a conflict or a public health emergency.

The DSI is building the interoperability infrastructure that makes digital trade documents – issued in one country and recognised everywhere – a reality. We have mapped 36 key trade documents and 189 core data elements across global trade and are establishing common standards for how they are formatted, exchanged and verified. Economies representing over 60 per cent of global exports are now aligned with, or committed to, the MLETR legal framework for digital trade documents. The eATA Carnet, replacing paper carnets that have been in use since 1961, went live digitally on 1 June 2026.

Digitalising trade documentation does not just reduce costs; it makes trade structurally more resilient. A digital document can be rerouted, reissued and verified in minutes. A paper document stuck at a disrupted port can delay an entire supply chain for weeks. This is an immediate priority.

The trade finance gap is one of the most damaging structural problems in global commerce, and the ICC is squarely focused on it. In Africa alone, the gap exceeds $100 billion per year. In India and other developing nations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face very high rejection rates for trade finance, which effectively means they cannot participate in export markets even when the opportunity exists.

The ICC’s agenda on trade finance has three components:

• Basel III reform: The current capital treatment of trade finance under Basel III makes it more expensive for banks to fund trade finance transactions. The ICC has been advocating reform.

• Digitalisation: The ICC Trade Register, our database of trade finance transactions, combined with AI-enabled datasets, is making it possible to demonstrate the actual risk profile of trade finance. The data consistently shows that trade finance is low risk. Regulators need to see this evidence to calibrate capital rules appropriately.

• Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) collaboration: The ICC is pushing for expanded collaboration between MDBs and private commercial banks, particularly in markets where private finance alone is insufficient.

As only the fourth Indian to lead the ICC in over a century, what does this responsibility mean to you?

It carries enormous significance, and I am deeply honoured by it. I assume this chairmanship at a pivotal moment. India is now the world’s fastest-growing major economy. India has built digital public infrastructure such as UPI, Aadhaar and the Open Network for Digital Commerce, which the world is looking to as a model. India is also increasingly a voice for the Global South at institutions such as the G20, where it held the presidency in 2023. The ICC chairmanship is less about holding a prestigious title and more about fulfilling a significant responsibility. During my tenure, we will focus on AI governance, digital trade and WTO reform that reflect the interests of all members and leave a lasting institutional legacy.

How can the ICC help strengthen India’s role in global trade and economic growth?

There are three key aspects. The first is the standards architecture. Eighty to ninety per cent of global trade documentation is still paper-based in 2026, making it slow, expensive and fragile. When tariffs on goods fell, trade flowed more freely across borders.

The ICC’s Digital Standards Initiative is building the common interoperability layer so that digital trade can flow in much the same way. Every economy that participates in that standards architecture benefits from lower compliance costs, faster transactions and access to markets that would otherwise require expensive local adaptation.

The second aspect relates to dispute resolution. Cross-border commerce depends on trust, and trust depends on knowing that if something goes wrong, there is a neutral, enforceable mechanism to resolve it. The ICC International Court of Arbitration, with roughly $20 billion in caseload value annually, provides that mechanism for businesses worldwide. It makes large, complex international transactions feasible. Without it, the frictional cost of cross-border commerce rises significantly, and the businesses that suffer most are those without the resources to litigate across multiple legal systems.

The third aspect is advocacy. The ICC is the organised voice of global business at every forum where trade rules are being written. When Basel III trade finance rules make it more expensive for banks to finance SME exporters, the ICC makes the case for reform. When the e-commerce moratorium is under threat, the ICC records the cost of its lapse. When AI governance risks fragmenting into incompatible national regimes, the ICC proposes a neutral framework. None of this is country-specific. These developments shape the global trading environment for every nation.

The ICC provides the institutional framework for a well-functioning global trading system. Countries that actively engage with this framework by helping shape its standards, leveraging its institutions and contributing to its advocacy are better positioned to benefit than those that remain on the sidelines.

What is your vision for India’s role in the global economy over the next decade?

My vision is for India to play a leading role in shaping the future of global commerce. One of the most consequential areas over the next decade will be AI governance. The global trading system was built for a world of goods crossing physical borders, but it is not equipped to address AI, data flows or digital trade, which are now among the most contested issues in global commerce. That governance vacuum presents a significant opportunity for the ICC, and the window to establish the right framework is open now.

The biggest risk is fragmentation. As countries invest in their own regulatory frameworks, achieving harmonisation becomes far more difficult. The ICC offers a unique opportunity through its model of ‘harmonisation without hegemony’ –neutral, business-led framework that countries can adopt without compromising their sovereignty or choosing between competing geopolitical standards. The success of Incoterms and UCP demonstrates this approach. Neither was mandated by governments; both were adopted because they were practical, credible and well designed. That is the model the ICC seeks to build on for AI governance.

The ICC’s Digital Standards Initiative (DSI) complements this effort. While AI governance focuses on establishing rules for the use of AI in global commerce, the DSI is working to make core trade documents such as bills of lading, certificates of origin and letters of credit, digital and interoperable. Both are essential. A paper-based trading system remains inefficient, even with AI governance, while a digitised system without a governance framework lacks trust and consistency. By advancing both initiatives simultaneously, the ICC is creating a coherent foundation for the future of global trade.

A decade from now, the rules for AI in global trade will largely be set. The ICC’s goal is to ensure those rules are established through a process that is neutral, inclusive of developing economies and grounded in how business actually operates.