According to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, India's free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) could be finalized by the year's end, and an interim agreement may even be possible as there seems to be not many issues of disagreement left.

During their high-level negotiations in February, India and the EU had set a year-end goal to complete the FTA.

In the event that negotiations on a comprehensive deal take longer than expected, the concept of an interim agreement is also being studied.

The minister stated that the objective is still a comprehensive free trade agreement since India is willing to engage in discussions on any topic, including gender and sustainability, and that India actually has the upper hand in these two areas.

However, the minister acknowledged that in each economic partnership, there are some delicate matters that both parties have decided to settle peacefully. Goyal added that among the issues that India has brought up in the discussions are the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the EU's deforestation policy, and the Digital Product Passport. The EU, on the other hand, has some worries about India in relation to trade issues.

To assess the progress of the negotiations and provide additional impetus to the talks, Goyal is set to meet with EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic.

 

In June 2022, India and the EU started negotiating the FTA. There are 23 policy areas or chapters in the FTA.

After a break of more than eight years, India and the 27-nation EU group recommenced negotiations in June 2022 for a comprehensive free trade deal, an investment protection agreement, and a treaty on geographical indications (GIs). Disagreements regarding the extent of market openness caused the negotiations to stop in 2013.

The president of the European Commission and Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided on February 28 to finalize a long-awaited free trade agreement by the end of this year.

Trade in Goods, Trade in Services, Investment, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Technical Barriers to Trade, Trade Remedies, Rules of Origin, Customs and Trade Facilitation, Competition, Trade Defense, Government Procurement, Dispute Settlement, Intellectual Property Rights, Geographical Indications, and Sustainable Development are among the 23 policy areas or chapters that are covered in the India-EU trade pact negotiations.

India is the biggest trading partner for goods, with $137.41 billion in bilateral commerce with the EU in 2023–2024 (exports of $75.92 billion and imports of $61.48 billion).

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Approximately 17 percent of India's total exports go to the EU market, and nine percent of the EU's total international shipments go to India.