Free Trade Agreement

MFN status suspension not to delay EFTA trade pact with India: Switzerland

The Swiss decision to suspend the most favoured nation clause in the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement will not delay the ratification and implementation of the already signed trade agreement between India and the EFTA bloc, Switzerland has said. The Swiss government has suspended the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status, which could potentially impact Swiss investments in India and lead to higher taxes on Indian companies operating in the European nation. India and the four-nation European Free Trade Association (EFTA) signed the pact, officially dubbed as TEPA (Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement), in March. Its members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. The agreement is yet to be implemented. "No, the decision will not delay the ratification and implementation of EFTA-India TEPA," the Embassy of Switzerland in India has said in a response to PTI queries on the matter. It also said that this decision does not negatively affect investments from Switzerland t

'BIT, free trade agreement 2 separate pacts; should continue to remain so'

Demands of certain developed countries from India to negotiate 'investment protection' elements under an FTA is inappropriate as negotiating the matter as part of a separate chapter under the trade pact could have larger and detrimental implications, source said. Legally speaking, they said, the investment protection element provides a wide range of obligations and commitments bestowed upon foreign investors, which are expansive in nature. "Recently, a lot has been heard about countries that are desiring India to negotiate 'investment protection' elements vis-a-vis investment chapter as part of the free trade agreement (FTA). However, this is incorrect," one of the sources said. For instance, the European Union (EU) has been negotiating a separate investment protection agreement or treaty with India, and not as part of the India-EU free trade agreement. "Having 'investment protection' as a chapter of a FTA could have larger and detrimental implications even on the trade agreements'

India raises barriers issue faced by domestic industry with European Union

India has flagged barriers being faced by domestic industry in the European Union (EU) markets and urged to address the issue, an official statement said on Friday. The issue besides the progress of proposed free trade agreement between the two was discussed during the meeting of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic last night virtually. "Minister Goyal underlined that non-tariff barriers were impeding trade and emphasized the need to address long pending issues as a confidence building measure," the commerce ministry said. Both sides agreed to explore a balanced, equitable, ambitious and mutually beneficial FTA, it added. Following nine rounds of intensive negotiations, FTA (Free Trade Agreement) discussions require strategic political guidance to conclude a commercially significant and mutually beneficial agreement, with due consideration given to each side's sensitivities, the ministry said.

Govt considering proposal to impose safeguard duty on steel imports

The government is considering a proposal to impose safeguard duty on steel imports, Union Steel Minister H D Kumaraswamy said on Thursday. "The process is going" on the ministry's proposal to impose a 25 per cent duty on steel imports, Kumaraswamy told PTI on the sidelines of an event here. On December 2, the steel ministry in a meeting with the commerce department had proposed for a 25 per cent safeguard duty on certain steel products imported into the country. The steel minister and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal were present in the meeting. A final call on imposing the duty can be taken by the finance ministry on recommendations of the ministry of commerce. Domestic steel players have been consistently raising concerns over increasing cheap imports of steel from select nations, affecting their competitiveness. Steel Secretary Sandeep Poundrik last month said more than 60 per cent of steel imports come from FTA (free trade agreement) countries at nil duty and any du

Norway planning to ratify India-EFTA free trade agreement next year

Norway on Sunday said that it plans to ratify the India-EFTA free trade agreement next year, the commerce and industry ministry said. India and the four-nation EFTA (European Free Trade Association) bloc inked the agreement, officially dubbed as Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), on March 10 this year. However, it needs ratification from the four countries for its implementation. The agreement came up for discussions during the India-Norway Business Forum which was held in Mumbai. May-Elin Stener, Ambassador of Norway to India, termed TEPA a landmark in bilateral relations and highlighted its potential to further enhance trade and investment between the two nations. "She noted Norway's plans to ratify TEPA by 2025 and emphasized areas of focus, such as renewable energy, maritime industries, climate, and sustainability," the ministry said. The ambassador also announced that Norway will host the Indo-Nordic Summit in 2025. In the deliberations, many Norwegian companie

Centre cautious on FTAs to safeguard farmers and MSMEs: EAM Jaishankar

Speaking at an event, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke about India's resilience and post-Covid recovery along with its careful stance on free trade agreements

FTA an ongoing process, UK govt ready to restart negotiations: Indian envoy

Following a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of G20 Summit in Brazil, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the relaunch of FTA talks in 2025

Next round of talks for India-Asean FTA in goods review to be held in Feb

The next round of talks for the review meeting of the India-Asean free trade agreement in goods will be held in February next year, an official statement said on Saturday. The fourth round of the negotiations was concluded here this month. The review of AITIGA (Asean India Trade in Goods Agreement) will be a step forward in enhancing trade with the ASEAN region in a sustainable manner, the commerce ministry said. "The next meeting of the AITIGA Joint Committee is scheduled in February 2025 in Jakarta, Indonesia," it said. There are 8 Sub-Committees under the AITIGA Joint Committee to negotiate aspects related to market access, rules of origin, standards and technical regulations, customs procedures, economic and technical cooperation, trade remedies, and legal and institutional provisions. Asean as a group is one of the major trade partners of India with about 11 per cent share in India's global trade. The bilateral trade in 2023-24 was USD 121 billion and reached USD 73 billion

Commerce secy visits Norway to discuss trade pact implementation with EFTA

Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal has visited Norway to discuss the possibility of an early implementation of a free trade agreement between India and the four-nation European bloc EFTA, an official statement said on Saturday. The agreement, officially dubbed as Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), was inked in March. The implementation date has not yet been finalised. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. "The visit was aimed at furthering the objectives of and unlocking the large market in EFTA countries for Indian exports of goods and services and push for early implementation of USD 100 billion investment," the commerce ministry said Barthwal met Tomas Norvoll, State Secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries of Norway for discussions on promoting trade and investments, mobility for Indian professionals, re-energising existing institutional mechanisms and the next steps for the TEPA ..

India, UK to relaunch FTA talks in 2025, 'address remaining issues'

Announcement follows first meeting between Prime Minister Modi and his British counterpart during G-20 summit in Brazil

Re-examine trade pacts: India must consider entering CPTPP, RCEP

The two stumbling blocks for entry into the RCEP and CPTPP are, respectively, China and domestic reform

Looking forward to advancing EU-India FTA talks: Spanish President Snchez

Spanish President Pedro Snchez on Tuesday said he looks forward to advancing EU-India FTA negotiations, highlighting the "enormous" potential for a stronger relationship between India and the 27-nation European Union bloc, including Spain. The European Union (EU)-India proposed a free trade agreement (FTA) aimed at further boosting bilateral trade and investments between the two regions. The two sides are negotiating FTA, investment protection treaty and agreement on geographical indications (GIs). "The potential for a stronger relationship between India and the European Union (including Spain) is enormous. Spain is one of the largest economies in the world and has invested USD 4.2 billion in India... We look forward to advancing negotiations on a European Union-India free trade agreement. This will help our markets grow in size and diversity," Snchez observed while addressing the CII Spain India Business Summit in Mumbai, a statement issued by the industry body said. This is Spanis

No FTA if EU insists on opening up of India's dairy business: Piyush Goyal

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday emphasised on understanding and respecting mutual sensitivities to fast-track India-EU free trade agreement talks, and said there would be no pact if the European Union insists on opening the dairy sector. Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business, the minister also said that "extraneous" issues like labour and climate change should be discussed at international forums. He added that the two sides have to understand, listen and appreciate the sensitivities of each other. "You (EU) are 27 countries, who have different priorities; India has 27 states. I may be growing apples in one state which does not permit me to open apples," he said, adding that the per capita income of EU member countries is much higher than that of the Indian states. He also said that there is a need to focus the energies on trade and on promoting investments and deeper strategic partnerships to push the talks. It will have to be a politica

India-UK negotiations on free trade deal likely to restart in November

India expects the UK to come forward for the next round of negotiations, after the Budget presentation later this month

India aiming to close FTA negotiations with Australia in 2 months: Report

India is looking at expediting the free trade agreement talks with Australia in the next two months to bridge differences on the sensitive issues and close the negotiations, a senior government official said on Wednesday. "Otherwise Australia goes for election next year, maybe the (talks for the) agreement will go beyond that depending on the work, we are able to do in these two months," Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal told reporters here. The eleventh round of negotiations are expected to be held next month. The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (AI-ECTA) came into effect from December 2022. Now both the sides are negotiating to widen the scope of ECTA through a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA). The utilisation of the trade agreement so far is more than 80 per cent, which means that businesses of both the countries are benefitting out of this, he said. "They have guided the officials to see in case the CE

India-Asean FTA talks: Goyal calls for addressing local industry's concerns

India on Friday called for addressing the concerns of its domestic industries affected by the existing free trade agreement (FTA) with the 10-nation bloc ASEAN as the two regions negotiate a review of the pact. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has also emphasized the need to rectify the inequitable tariff liberalization under the agreement. Goyal said this during the stock-taking exercise of the progress of review talks for the India-ASEAN free trade agreement in goods (AITIGA) in Laos. All the ministers took note of the progress in negotiations for the review of the agreement. "Minister Goyal in his intervention stressed the need for addressing injury to industries from the existing FTA and the inequitable tariff liberalisation during the review. He also cited India's ongoing efforts of integrating with other economies through FTAs and highlighted the urgency in upgrading AITIGA which otherwise may lead to diversion of bilateral trade to other regions, the commerce ...

Piyush Goyal to review India-ASEAN trade pact talks' progress in Laos

The progress of talks for the review of the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement in goods will figure during the visit of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to Laos, an official statement said on Friday. The two-day visit of Goyal to Vientiane, Laos, started from Friday. He is there to participate in the 21st ASEAN-India Economic Ministers (AEM-India) meeting and the 12th East Asia Summit Economic Ministers Meeting (EAS EMM). These annual meetings of ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) with their dialogue partners are being hosted by Laos, the ASEAN Chair for this year. "In the AEM-India meeting, the ministers will review the progress in negotiations for review of ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA), the ministry said. The review is high on India's priority to make it more user-friendly, simple and trade facilitative for businesses, it said. It added that Goyal will have a number of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from participating countries o

India, S Korea share bill of lading electronically to promote trade: DGFT

India and South Korea have started sharing the bill of lading in an electronic transfer mode between the customs of both sides, a move that will help promote ease of doing business, a senior official said on Thursday. A bill of lading is a legal document that serves as a receipt, contract, and proof of ownership for shipped goods. Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi said as and when the system becomes a norm for all the countries, there will be no requirement for physical submission of records. "India in collaboration with South Korea has now started this concept of sharing the bill of lading in an electronic transfer mode between the customs of both sides," he said while addressing a session in the 'Deloitte Government Summit' here. South Korea is a key trading partner of India and both countries have implemented a comprehensive free trade agreement in 2010. India's exports to the country stood at USD 6.41 billion in 2023-23, while imports aggregated at

India, UK may hold next round of talks on proposed trade agreement in Oct

India and the UK are expected to hold the next round of talks for a proposed free trade agreement in October to resolve the pending issues and close the negotiations, a senior official said on Tuesday. Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said the officials of the UK are briefing their new ministers about the proposed free trade agreement (FTA). The two sides have already taken stock of the progress of talks at secretary and minister levels. "The briefings are going on in the UK...they are briefing their new ministers and based on that, the negotiations will start. We are hoping that in October, the negotiations should resume," Barthwal told reporters here. He also said India is progressing on all FTAs, but there are certain things which are not in control of anyone. The India-UK talks for the proposed FTA began in January 2022. The 14th round of talks stalled as the two nations stepped into their general election cycles. Due to the elections in India and Britain, both the countries

India fine tuning FTAs with countries to suit domestic industry: Prasada

India is revising FTAs with South Korea, Malaysia and various other ASEAN countries to benefit the domestic industries, Union Minister of State for Ministry of Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada said on Monday. At the 64th annual session of ACMA (Automotive Component Manufacturers Association) here, he noted that the free trade agreements (FTAs) with the UK and the European Union are being spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "It will play a great role for the auto components industry," the minister said. He further said: "We are also revising and reworking our FTAs with Korea, with Malaysia, with ASEAN countries, which will be fine-tuned to the demands of our industry." Prasada also urged the auto components industry to increase investment in R&D activities. "We are not investing enough in R&D, I believe this is 1 per cent of the revenue that is being invested so this is very crucial," he noted. He also emphasised the importance of boosting exports, reducing import ..