Trade Deals

In 2019, India decided to not join the bloc, on the grounds that the deal would hurt its farmers, businesses, workers and consumers

The new sanctions also target firms in India, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan

Under the agreement with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, Disney said it would spend at least $8 billion at the resort over a decade with a total of $17 billion invested over 10-20 year

Trade experts said that Indian government officials generally reach out to their counterparts to discuss any major concern flagged by the trade partner's Parliament during FTA negotiations

The objective of the joint call is to create solutions and use cases in the mutual areas of interest using high-performance computing, said the ministry

The bloc seeks liberal product-specific rules in electronics and chemicals

EFTA comprises four nations - Iceland, Switzerland, Norway, and Liechtenstein

India is keen to finalise the trade pact before the model code of conduct (MCC) kicks-in ahead of its general elections, making the timing of the finalisation of the proposed deal crucial

Negotiations for a free trade agreement between India and the four-nation EFTA bloc are at an advanced stage as both sides have reached a shared understanding on key issues, a senior official has said. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. India and the EFTA have been negotiating the pact, officially dubbed as Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), since January 2008 to boost economic ties. "Following extensive negotiations, a shared understanding has been achieved on key issues during the ministerial meeting. Ongoing efforts are now focused on shaping the convergence that has emerged," the official said. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held a meeting recently with Swiss Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin in Mumbai. Parmelin, in a social media post on X, has said that officials are working around the clock to settle last details so that it can be signed as soon as possible. "At the last-minute ..

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is keen to clinch a free trade agreement (FTA) with India in time for Easter, which falls at the end of March 2024, according to a UK media report. The India-UK FTA talks began in January last year, aimed at significantly enhancing the GBP 36-billion bilateral trading partnership. A new round of negotiations, expected to be the last, is set to start early in the new year after the thirteenth round concluded on December 15. Prime Minister Mr Sunak and India's premier Narendra Modi are said to be keen to get the deal wrapped up by April, reads a report in the Daily Express' newspaper updated on Saturday. It is hoped a deal can be signed and sealed before India's general elections begin on April 1, it claims. The newspaper quoted a source close to the trade talks on the UK side to say that a lot of progress has been made, but some of the hardest aspects remain pending. We have made a lot of progress, but the last stuff to do is the hardest. We have

Snacking brand Farmley has raised USD 6.7 million, about Rs 56 crore, in a funding round led by BC Jindal Group, a top company official said. Existing investors DSG Consumer Partners, Omnivore and Alkemi Partners also participated in the funding round. Farmley Co-Founder Akash Sharma told PTI that the company has raised USD 6.7 million which will be utilised in innovation, expanding distribution channel and brand building efforts. "These funds will play a pivotal role in fuelling our product innovation efforts, in diversifying distribution channels and in amplifying the brand building efforts. We would like to make people's snacking experiences more wholesome by operating on consumer first principles," Sharma said. He said the company registered a revenue of around Rs 150 crore in the financial year 2023 and has now touched an annual recurring revenue of Rs 300 crore. The brand recently onboarded Indian cricket team coach and former captain Rahul Dravid as its brand ...

India needs to follow a cautious approach while negotiating labour provisions in free trade agreements (FTAs) as those could have potential repercussions on domestic manufacturing and overall trade competitiveness, experts say. International trade experts claimed that in a significant shift from its longstanding stance, India has begun to engage on labour issues in its trade negotiations with the UK, European Union, and the US-led Indo Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). Inclusion of these issues in trade pacts could have negative impacts, they said, adding that the recent US presidential memorandum of Joe Biden on worker rights indicates a deepening focus on labour standards in trade deals. Negotiations are on fast track with a comprehensive trade agreement with the UK, which seeks to promote trade in goods, services and two-way investments. Think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) Ajay Srivastava said that such provisions could erode the competitive advant

Indian negotiators are pushing for strict "rules of origin" checks for tradable goods, to make sure that any FTA benefits apply only to goods made predominantly in Britain

As many as 3,500 exhibitors from India and other countries like UAE, Iran and Thailand will showcase their products during the 14-day international trade fair, beginning here at Pragati Maidan on Tuesday. With the theme 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam - United by Trade' the 42nd edition of the India International Trade Fair 2023 (IITF) will witness the participation of all states and Union territories, India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) said in a statement. Pragati Maidan is under the administrative control of ITPO, an arm of the commerce ministry. "With nearly 3,500 exhibitors from both India and abroad, IITF 2023 occupies an expansive 110,000 square meters," it said. Partner States for this event are Bihar and Kerala, while Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are the Focus States. Representatives from 13 countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Oman, Egypt, Nepal, Thailand, Turkiye, Vietnam, Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Iran and UAE are ...

The UK's demand for import concessions on electric vehicles is one of the few outstanding issues in the free trade talks

Could a successful negotiation herald a new era in their modest trade relationship?

The share of Russian oil imports in India's overall crude import basket slumped by 8 percentage points on the month in October

The next round of negotiations for a trade agreement between India and South American nation Peru will start from October 10, an official statement said on Monday. The agreement is aimed at promoting bilateral trade and investments between the two countries. With the pact, the two trading partners will significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on maximum number of goods traded between them. "A special round of negotiations for the India - Peru trade agreement is scheduled to be held virtually on 10-11 October," the commerce ministry said. During the negotiations, the two sides will discuss different issues, including rules of origin, trade in goods, customs procedures and trade facilitation, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures. "Discussions on services, movement of natural persons (professionals), trade remedies and investment chapter will be held later in the month based on mutual convenience of the negotiators," the statement said. Negotiation

India and Australia on Wednesday inked a migration and mobility partnership pact to open up opportunities for students, academic researchers and business people and resolved to conclude a comprehensive trade deal by the end of year to significantly expand economic ties. The pact was signed after wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. In his media statement, Albanese said the aim is to conclude the comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) by the end of the year. "We reiterated our shared ambition for an early conclusion of the Australia-India comprehensive economic cooperation agreement later this year," he said in the presence of Modi. Last year, India and Australia finalised the Economic Cooperation Trade Agreement (ECTA) and it came into force in December last. The two sides are now working on the CECA. "Today, in my meeting with Prime Minister Albanese, we talked about taking India-Australia Comprehens

Britain's trade minister in charge of negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with India says clinching a high-quality deal is among her top priorities for the year, while admitting the talks had hit a "bit of an impasse which she broke by flying to New Delhi last month. In a speech addressing business leaders at Lancaster House in London on Tuesday, UK Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch insisted the FTA talks are now back on track. It comes after the Diwali 2022 deadline for the FTA set by former prime minister Boris Johnson was missed last October amid political turmoil in Britain. "Some of you will know I was a software engineer and a systems analyst before I became a politician. That means I'm a problem solver at heart, said Badenoch. "So when our Indian trade talks hit a bit of an impasse, I didn't pick up the phone, I got on a plane. That deal's not done yet, but it's back on track, she said. Badenoch was in New Delhi in early December to hold talks with her counterpart, Commerce