Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday flagged concerns over Europe's increasing regulatory burden on businesses, while Dutch Trade Minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma said the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) was a necessary measure.
Goyal said that India is taking a series of measures to reduce compliance burden for businesses.
He said that India is creating huge opportunities for companies by deregulating provisions.
"Sadly, you need to take a lesson or two from us on that," Goyal said in a lighter vein.
He added: "With Europe adding to the regulatory burden on businesses, I tell you that whenever I say that I become the darling of businesses in your countries...I have had so many occasions where I have talked about the huge regulatory overburden both at the European Commission level and at the state level in many European countries.
"When the programme gets over, the ministers (of European nations) are not very happy with me, but businesses come and quietly tell me, I wish you could say that a little more... Because really the world wants deregulation," he said.
The minister was speaking at the India-Netherlands Business Forum here. He is here on a two-day official visit.
India has enacted two Jan Vishwas laws, under which several provisions relating to minor offences have been decriminalised or eased. The country has also removed about 40,000 compliance burdens on businesses.
India has on multiple occasions flagged concerns over several EU regulations including CBAM and EU Deforestation.
"The world wants more freedom... Business world is looking for less compliance, for simpler processes, simpler procedures, less paperwork," he said, adding that in India, the government always seeks feedback from businesses on promoting ease of doing business.
On the sidelines of the Forum, Netherlands Trade Minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma said he did not expect any renegotiation of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), describing it as a necessary measure.
However, he said the Netherlands was helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) understand the rules and make compliance easier.
When asked if the European Union (EU) would rethink CBAM as it would make imports expensive, he said: "I don't think there will be any renegotiation of CBAM because we view it as a necessary measure to ensure that we stick to the goals that the entire world agreed to, the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement."
"We believe that this is an essential instrument to ensure that not only we but the entire world adheres to these goals," he told reporters here on the sidelines of the India-Netherlands Business Forum.
The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is designed to impose a carbon cost on imports of certain carbon-intensive goods, including iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen.
He added that the Netherlands is one of the few countries that invests a lot in helping small and medium-sized enterprises in countries like India and other partners to help explain the CBAM rules and to make sure that it becomes easier to comply with them.
"Because we do see, of course, the difficulty in some of these guidelines. Some of them are quite complex to follow, and if you have a small company, you have a lot of other things to do. Then just read all those guidelines. We're helping these people out," he said.
Goyal has recently stated that the European Union (EU) is "inviting disaster" by imposing a carbon tax on its steel products.
Goyal in the Forum said that the EU is over burdening its businesses by these regulations.
On this, Sjoerdsma said that the European Commission is currently implementing an agenda of deregulation.
"At the same time, certain rules and regulations are also crucial to protect the consumers of the European Union. When it comes to climate, when it comes to the quality of products, when it comes to the security and safety of products, these are rules that very much benefit the consumers of the European market," he said.
"And of course, we should keep those rules," he said.
However, he added that rules that are not necessary and that hinder trade unnecessarily, "we need to look at them when it comes to regulation".
The Indian commerce minister visited Germany and the Netherlands during his six-day tour from October 22-27. He was leading a 100-member business delegation.
He held a series of meetings in the two countries with government leaders and businesses to discuss ways to boost trade and investments between India and the 27-nation EU bloc.
Goyal's visit followed the conclusion of a free trade agreement announced by the two sides in January this year. The pact will be signed in January and is expected to come into force in March-April next year.
Under the pact, 93 per cent of Indian shipments will enjoy duty-free access to the 27-nation bloc, while imports of luxury cars and wines from the EU will become less expensive.
The EU is the largest trading bloc for India.
India's exports to EU countries dipped by 4.57 per cent to USD 72.4 billion in 2025-26 from USD 75.85 billion in 2024-25.
These countries accounted for about 17 per cent of India's total merchandise shipments in the last fiscal year.
Imports, on the other hand, rose by 9 per cent to USD 66.18 billion in 2025-26 from USD 60.68 billion in 2024-25.
These countries accounted for about 9 per cent of India's total merchandise imports in the last fiscal year.
The trade gap was in the favour of India. Some of the European nations are major investors in India, and they include the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Sweden and Denmark.
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