As EU's green trade rules kick in, India works policy shifts
European Union
(EU) are ready to close a key trade pact, various Indian ministries are working on several rulebook shifts to align with a slew of new, stricter 'green' regulations by the EU that will come into effect within a year and are bound to impact Indian trade across sectors from coffee export to import of scrap. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change is at the forefront of the exercise, readying rulebook shifts and mechanisms to align with the incoming 'green' regime at the EU.
Packaging for EU - no antibiotics to boot
The latest niggle is the new EU
Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation
2025/40 (PPWR) that will regulate the types of packaging acceptable across the EU markets from August 2026 onwards. Bound to have a huge impact for all Indian exports to the EU, the regulations have triggered deliberations across industry as well as several stakeholder ministries to prepare for a comprehensive overhaul of packaging systems.
Reason: the new rules call for several restrictions on the manufacturing, composition, and reusable nature of packaging. These range from barring use of single-use plastics for pre-packed fruit and vegetables to packaging of condiments, sauces, and sugar.
They also go into aspects like weight and volume of packaging to minimise unnecessary packaging. Deadlines of 2030 and 2040 have been set to ensure a minimum percentage of recycled content in packaging, all of which will require major shifts for Indian industry. The next one, under advanced discussion in the Indian government, is regarding EU's 2018-19 ban on 'non-therapeutic antibiotic use in livestock' and animal products.
ET gathered that the EU earlier this year warned India that unless it completely bans nearly 30 such antibiotics for animal use, several animal products from India would not be permitted into the EU from a specific date later this year. An older India advisory has been found inadequate. ET has learnt that the ministries of health, agriculture and commerce are finally close to issuing a full-fledged notification on the issue to align with the EU rulebook requirement.
'Deforestation free' products
A third regulation of concern is the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) which will come into full effect between December 2025 to June 2026 with significant implications for export of coffee, palm oil, rubber, wood, soy and cattle and related products from leather to furniture. The EUDR requires exporters to assure and certify that their products are 'deforestation free' - not sourced/produced from deforested or degraded land. Companies will need to trace products back to their 'origin,' with geolocation and 'due diligence' procedures to ward off a stiff penalty. The Indian environment ministry is currently working on state-level mechanisms to bring in the 'due diligence' certification regime to prove 'origin of wood' involved, ET has learnt.Alongside, geo-tagging of plots is being worked upon for coffee plantations to vineyards to secure compliance to export to the EU.
The Wasteland
The EU
Waste Shipment Regulation
(EU WSR) comes next and will take effect from May 2026. It demands that all waste exported out of the EU must be processed in an environmentally responsible manner - through a verifiable, third party audit based mechanism. With India importing over 3.5 million tonnes of waste from the EU - iron scrap to tyre waste and paper- the WSR will require a significant shift of mechanisms at India's growing waste processing industry. Citing the new WSR rulebook, the EU earlier this year asked India to share a list of waste products it would like to import. India is learnt to have indicated over 26 categories of waste it is keen to import. ET gathers that hectic work is on to strengthen standards and quality control measures ahead of the 2026 deadline.
Economic Times WhatsApp channel
)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
5 minutes ago
- Mint
Top Losers and Gainers on July 28: Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI Cards, GMDC, CDSL among top losers today
Indian equities ended another session in the red, dragged down by a sharp decline in Kotak Mahindra Bank along with weakness in other key heavyweights, including Bharti Airtel and TCS, leading to an almost 0.70% drop in the benchmark indices. In addition, the delay in a potential India–US trade deal and continued selling by overseas investors also weighed on the Indian stock market, which extended its losing streak to a third consecutive session on Monday and fell to a 7-week low. The Nifty 50 slipped below the 24,700 mark, settling at 24,680 with a 0.63% decline, while the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 0.72% to close at 80,874 points. While large-cap stocks continued to face selling pressure, mid- and small-cap stocks saw even sharper declines, with the Nifty Smallcap 100 ending today's session down 1.26% and the Nifty Midcap 100 closing with a 0.84% drop.
Mint
5 minutes ago
- Mint
Personal loan volume spikes, year-on-year growth drops in FY 2025: Report
Resorting to borrowing when the credit need arises is a typical behaviour of consumers. Be it for car, home, consumer durables or for personal needs, borrowing is the part and parcel of life of consumers everywhere. CRIF High Mark released its annual report listing out latest trends relating to borrowing trends of Indian consumers. The report highlights that personal loan POS grew from ₹ 10.7 lakh crore to ₹ 14.6 lakh crore over two years but year-on-year growth fell sharply from 25.2 percent in FY2024 to 9.1 percent in FY2025. The report titled How India Lends Credit Landscape in India FY 2025 provides in depth insights into originations, portfolio and delinquency trends across major product categories. When it comes to the lender type, the share of NBFCs has increased from 27.6 percent to 36.4 percent in the past two years from 2023 to 2025. During this time, the share of private banks fell from 32.5 percent to 29.2 percent. The share of PSU banks declined from 35.3 percent to 30.5 percent. The share of origination value for personal loans over ₹ 10 lakh has risen steadily from 28.2 percent in FY24 to 30.9 percent in FY25, indicating a growing preference for higher-value loans. Meanwhile, the share for loans between ₹ 1 lakh and ₹ 10 lakh has declined, suggesting a shift away from mid-sized lending. Interestingly, loans under ₹ 1 lakh are also gaining market share in origination value, driven by the increasing adoption of digital and small-ticket lending solutions, especially by NBFCs. Loans below ₹ 1L also continue to dominate in volume, increasing from 87.1% in FY24 to 89.3% in FY25. The origination value of two-wheeler loans jumped from ₹ 99,543 crore in FY24 to ₹ 110,056 crore in FY25, though the growth rate moderated from 25.1 percent to 10.6 percent over the same period. The report suggests that tighter credit policies aimed at managing default risks, along with increasing stress among sub-prime borrowers, may have influenced this slowdown. Two-wheeler loan delinquencies increased across all lender types from Mar '24 to Mar 2025, with PAR 31-90 percent for PSU Banks climbing from 1.27 percent to 1.61 percent and private banks rising from 3.27 percent to 3.62 percent. In terms of credit cards, the share of private banks fell from 70.8 percent to 69.6 percent (active loans) and from 69.9 percent to 68.9 percent (portfolio outstanding). New card originations fell to 216.4 lakh in FY25, down 26.4 percent YoY, reversing the strong growth seen in FY22 and FY23. This follows a peak of 294.1 lakh cards that were issued in fiscal 2024, indicating a clear slowdown in momentum and tightening credit criteria. For all personal finance updates, visit here Disclaimer: Mint has a tie-up with fintechs for providing credit, you will need to share your information if you apply. These tie-ups do not influence our editorial content. This article only intends to educate and spread awareness about credit needs like loans, credit cards and credit score. Mint does not promote or encourage taking credit as it comes with a set of risks such as high interest rates, hidden charges, etc. We advise investors to discuss with certified experts before taking any credit.
Mint
7 minutes ago
- Mint
Why is Mold-Tek Packaging share price rising in bear-hit market? EXPLAINED
Small-cap stock Mold-Tek Packaging's share price is trading higher amid an overall bearish stock market on Monday, 28 July 2025, after the company recorded nearly a 36% jump in its April-June quarter net profits for the 2025-26 fiscal year, according to an exchange filing. Monday's fall on the Indian stock market marked the third consecutive day on which the benchmark indices closed in the red zone over a delayed India-US trade deal ahead of the US President Donald Trump's 1 August 2025 tariff deadline, relentless foreign capital outflows, and muted Q1 results, which continue to dampen investor risk appetite. The packaging firm's net profits rose 35.5% to ₹ 22.39 crore in the first quarter of the financial year 2025-26, compared on a year-on-year (YoY) basis with ₹ 16.52 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year, as per the company's statements. Mold-Tek Packaging's revenue from core operations jumped 22% to ₹ 240.55 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, compared YoY with ₹ 196.72 crore in the same period a year ago. Mold-Tek Packaging's share price jumped 2.30% to ₹ 757.30 during Monday's stock market session, compared to ₹ 740.35 in the previous market close. The company announced its first-quarter results during the stock market session on 28 July 2025. Shares of the packaging company have given stock market investors more than 233% returns in the last five years. However, in the last one-year period, the stock has lost 5.41%. On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, the shares have gained 14.06% and are currently trading 3.20% higher in the last five market sessions on the Indian stock market. Mold-Tek Packaging stock hit its 52-week high level at ₹ 841.80 on 1 August 2024, while the 52-week low level was at ₹ 415 on 7 April 2025, according to the BSE data. The company's market capitalisation stood at ₹ 2,513.27 crore as of the stock market session on Monday, 28 July 2025. Read all stories by Anubhav Mukherjee Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.
