FTA Talks

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said he is doing his utmost to ensure that the free trade agreements with India and some other countries gets sealed

Take a look at the status of the ongoing FTA negotiations by India

The sixth round of negotiations between India and the UK to finalise a free trade agreement (FTA) concluded last week with detailed draft treaty discussions across 11 policy areas over 28 separate sessions, the British government said on Thursday. The UK's Department for International Trade (DIT) issued a joint outcome statement to confirm that the latest round, initiated by UK Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on December 12, concluded last Friday. The seventh round of talks, expected to be held in the UK, is due to take place in early 2023. "Technical discussions were held across 11 policy areas over 28 separate sessions. They included detailed draft treaty text discussions in these policy areas, the DIT statement reads. As with the previous five official-level rounds, the DIT said the latest round was conducted in a hybrid fashion during which a number of UK officials travelled to New Delhi for negotiations and others attended virtually. The joint

UK India Business Council MD lists four "Ps" to explains why he is confident the deal will happen

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that the UK government remains committed to working as quickly as possible towards a successful conclusion to the ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) talks with India, as the majority of the substantive negotiation conversations were completed at the end of last month. At a House of Commons session on the G20 Summit in Indonesia on Thursday, the British Indian leader updated Parliament that he reviewed progress on the FTA during his first meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi since taking charge at 10 Downing Street. He was questioned by Opposition Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer and his own Conservative Party MPs on the timeline for the completion of the agreement with India. I discussed the free trade agreement with India, and both the Prime Minister of India and I committed our teams to working as quickly as possible to see if we can bring a successful conclusion to the negotiations, said Sunak. Without negotiating all these things in publ

What is a free trade agreement?

Australia recently said that the free trade agreement with India has been tabled in its parliament, and is likely to be passed soon. But what is a free trade agreement? Watch this report to know more

The draft has also proposed to prohibit pre-grant oppositions, which means that India will not be able to stop challenges to weak/invalid patents until after they have been granted

Various issues will be on the table during the upcoming meeting, including goods and services trading, country of origin, digital trade and intellectual property rights, the ministry said

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal Thursday said India will wait for the change in leadership before formulating a strategy vis a vis the UK.

Data localisation and UK companies being allowed to bid for Indian government contracts are among the issues causing a possible deadlock in the final stages of the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations towards a Diwali draft completion deadline, according to a UK media report on Sunday. 'The Daily Telegraph' quoted a source close to the talks to say that data localisation rules that prevent foreign companies taking data out of India and allowing UK firms to bid for public sector contracts are two key "sticking points" to a comprehensive deal. The likelihood of a so-called "thin" trade deal within the symbolic Diwali or October 24 deadline and further iterative deals at a later stage is now looking like a likely outcome. "The stumbling blocks are absolutely to do with digital. How ambitious and comprehensive this deal is is in some way a function of time," the newspaper quoted an "insider" as saying. It follows UK Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch indicating earlier this week

A UK parliamentary panel warned the government against accepting a poor deal to rush things through simply to meet a deadline set for the completion of a free trade agreement (FTA) with India.

In January, both countries formally launched talks for a free trade agreement to boost bilateral trade and investments

PM Modi and UK PM Boris Johnson on Friday pushed for closing the negotiations for a free trade agreement by the end of the year, and agreed on a expanded bilateral defence and security partnership.

Two more countries and a group have shown interest in negotiating free trade agreements with India, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said

India is trying to include education as a key sector of cooperation in free trade agreements that the country is negotiating with its trading partners, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said

Under an FTA, two trading partners reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them.

The UKIBC said it expected to see a step-change in the volume and nature of the trade and investment relationship between the two countries

Earlier this year, in July, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and the US Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, had discussed the possibility of an FTA agreement between both the countries

New Delhi insists review process must start before 2020 end, pushes for removal of barriers in existing deal

On November 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in Bangkok that India will not join RCEP as negotiations failed to address New Delhi's "outstanding issues and concerns"