New Delhi, Feb. 2 -- Amid an unravelling of global trade, the Union budget has proposed some welcome steps to ease the pain. As one-off relief for eligible export-oriented manufacturers in special economic zones, for example, it proposes a pathway to let them sell some of their output within India at a concessional duty rate.

The budget also enlarges duty-free import quotas for inputs used by some sectors with high export potential (seafood and leatherwear, notably). Tariff barriers are to be eliminated for cost-control in key sectors. Components for manufacturing aircraft, for instance, will enjoy customs duty exemption, as also equipment for nuclear power projects and capital goods needed to process critical minerals.

The budget's bro...