India pushes rules-based connectivity and secure supply chains at SCO trade meeting

India used a September 17 meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization trade ministers in Dushanbe to argue that the bloc’s economic agenda should focus on trusted connectivity, resilient supply chains, lower trade costs and clearer market access. The pitch positioned New Delhi as a rules-and-facilitation voice in a forum shaped heavily by China, Russia and Central Asian priorities.²

The Indian delegation, represented by Yashvir Singh, said the SCO’s economic potential should be turned into “tangible outcomes” through higher intra-SCO trade, lower costs, stronger connectivity and diversified supply chains, according to a Commerce and Industry Ministry readout released by the Press Information Bureau on September 18.² The framing is notable as India navigates the SCO after a Modi-Xi thaw: New Delhi is treating the grouping not only as a geopolitical forum, but as a platform where trade rules, supply-chain security and market access can be contested and shaped.

India anchored its intervention in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three SCO trade pillars: “Security, Connectivity and Opportunity.” It said their economic meaning lies in supply-chain resilience, efficient and trusted connectivity, and expanded opportunities for businesses through greater market access.² That formulation lets New Delhi participate in SCO economic cooperation without endorsing connectivity on purely infrastructure-led or bloc-led terms.

Customs, digital trade and supply chains

New Delhi’s message focused on practical trade facilitation. India called for simplified customs procedures, paperless trade, electronic document exchange, stronger multimodal connectivity and shorter transit times. It also urged cooperation in strategic and emerging sectors, including agriculture, critical minerals, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and electronics.²

The agenda aligns with India’s broader concern that connectivity projects be reliable, transparent and politically acceptable. It also reflects a commercial need: Indian firms need predictable routes, faster customs processing and wider access if intra-SCO trade is to become more than a diplomatic slogan.

India also linked the SCO’s economic agenda to smaller businesses. The delegation highlighted digital payments, cross-border payments and accessible trade finance for micro, small and medium enterprises and start-ups, while calling for SCO economies to play a larger role in global value chains.² It also reiterated support for an open, inclusive and rules-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core.²

That WTO reference matters for India foreign-policy watchers. In a grouping where China’s economic weight is central and Russia is under heavy Western sanctions, New Delhi’s language puts multilateral trade rules, not bloc preference alone, at the center of its SCO economic diplomacy.

A broader SCO agenda, not just India’s pitch

The SCO Secretariat said ministers discussed mutual trade, reducing trade barriers, improving trade procedures, strengthening transport and logistics connectivity, and making production and trade chains more resilient.³ The meeting adopted a joint ministerial statement, approved regulations for a special working group on the creative economy and agreed on a 2026–2030 Action Plan to implement the SCO program of multilateral trade and economic cooperation. The plan will go to the Council of Heads of Government for approval.³

The Indian readout also confirmed the 2026–2030 action plan and said the next ministerial meeting will be held in Uzbekistan in 2027.² For New Delhi, that plan offers a vehicle to keep pushing trade facilitation, customs reform and supply-chain language through the SCO’s economic machinery.

Other member-state readouts show India was not alone in prioritizing procedural reforms. Kazakhstan’s Ministry of National Economy said participants discussed mutual trade, investment and industrial cooperation, transport-logistics links, digitalization of trade and improved trade procedures.⁴ Kazinform, citing the same ministry, reported that Kazakhstan backed paperless and electronic trade, digital trade procedures and mutual recognition of electronic documents.¹

Kazakhstan also cited trade volumes. Its trade with SCO countries reached $72.5 billion in 2025, up 7% year on year, and totaled $35.9 billion in January–June 2026, up 9.8% from the same period a year earlier, according to the Kazakh government readout.⁴ The figures show why Central Asian members see customs simplification and digital documentation as immediate economic issues, not just long-term integration goals.

Host-country reporting from Tajikistan also described discussions on trade and economic cooperation, including energy security, transport-logistics infrastructure, investment and higher-value-added production.⁵ That wider agenda gives India room to insert its priorities — especially critical minerals, pharmaceuticals and electronics — into conversations other members already frame around industrial cooperation and regional value chains.

India’s role after the thaw

The Dushanbe meeting came as India’s SCO engagement is being read against improving Modi-Xi atmospherics. For New Delhi, the challenge is to remain active in a China- and Russia-heavy organization without letting the SCO’s economic agenda be defined only by Beijing’s connectivity preferences or Moscow’s sanctions-era priorities.

India’s answer in Dushanbe was to emphasize standards and systems: customs procedures, electronic documents, resilient supply chains, market access, trade finance and WTO-based rules. Indian business media similarly framed the meeting around India’s push for lower trade costs, resilient supply chains, trusted connectivity, customs simplification, digital trade and the 2026–2030 action plan.⁶

This approach gives India a functional role in the SCO even where strategic alignments remain uneven. It can support trade facilitation without embracing every connectivity corridor, push supply-chain diversification without casting the forum as anti-Western, and advocate market access while keeping WTO rules in view.

The result is a more technical but potentially consequential Indian posture: New Delhi is trying to shape the SCO’s economic agenda from inside, using the language of secure supply chains and predictable trade rules rather than relying on symbolic participation in a geopolitical forum.