Page 2 - Fta

Expect to sign at least two more FTAs next year, says Piyush Goyal

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said he expects at least two more free trade agreements to be signed up in 2023. Negotiations are scheduled with the UK, European Union and Canada, Goyal said at an event here, adding that his ministry does not have the bandwidth to tend to requests by smaller trading partners like New Zealand with which the bilateral trade stands at USD 350 million. "India today works from a position of strength, we negotiate with confidence," Goyal said, adding that the country will sign at least two such free trade agreements. Speaking at the event to mark the operationalisation of the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement signed in April this year, Goyal said January itself is filled with meetings between Indian Commerce Ministry officials and their counterparts abroad. After handing over certificates of origin to the first among the Indian goods being sent to Australia after the agreement, Goyal said the FTA will benefit a sle

Indo-Aus trade pact from Dec 29; several goods to get duty-free access

The interim free trade agreement between India and Australia will come into force on Thursday, providing duty-free access to thousands of domestic goods such as textiles, and leather in the Australian market. The agreement will help almost double the bilateral commerce to USD 45-50 billion in around five years, according to exporters and industry players. The Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), which was signed on April 2, would provide duty-free access to Indian exporters of over 6,000 broad sectors, including textiles, leather, furniture, jewellery and machinery in the Australian market. Labour-intensive sectors which would gain immensely include textiles and apparel, a few agricultural and fish products, leather, footwear, furniture, sports goods, jewellery, machinery, and electrical goods. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Vice-President Khalid Khan said that Australia is one of the key markets for Indian exporters. "This agreement will give immense

India's push for free trade negotiations: A status check of ongoing deals

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

Countries eager to sign FTAs with India: Piyush Goyal in Rajya Sabha

Countries across the world are looking at India as a trusted partner and want to sign free trade agreements with it after its emergence as a strong force in the world, Textile Minister Piyush Goyal said in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. He said talks are underway with the European Union, Gulf countries, Canada and the United Kingdom for free trade agreements (FTA) and the FTAs with two developed economies of the UAE and Australia will be enforced in this year alone. Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour, the minister said it is true that in last few years, Bangladesh and Vietnam have made progress in the field of cotton textiles and garments. Bangladesh is still the least developed country (LDC) and will remain so till 2026 and because of that it gets duty free access in all world markets, he noted. Similarly, Vietnam has a FTA with the European Union due to which they get duty free access to the big market while our garments attract 9 to 10 percent duty in EU markets,

UAE deal poses a survival challenge for Indian bullion refineries

Under this gold will be imported at a duty lower than applicable to refineries

Force multiplier: Meet Lord Karan Bilimoria, India's voice in the UK

'An Indian living in London; but an Indian born and brought up in India: not a second generation Asian but a first generation immigrant - who's totally Indian but feels at home in both countries'

India-GCC grouping expects to revive free trade agreement negotiations

Launch date of negotiation not divulged

India, GCC agree to pursue Free Trade Agreement; resume talks: Piyush Goyal

India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have agreed to pursue a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two regions and resume the negotiations, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday. GCC is a union of six countries in the Gulf region -- Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. The council is the largest trading bloc of India. India's exports to the GCC member countries grew by 58.26 per cent to about USD 44 billion in 2021-22 against USD 27.8 billion in 2020-21, according to data from the commerce ministry. Bilateral trade in goods has increased to USD 154.73 billion in 2021-22 from USD 87.4 billion in 2020-21. Services trade between the two regions was valued at around USD 14 billion in 2021-22, with exports aggregated at USD 5.5 billion and imports at USD 8.3 billion. "We have agreed to pursue the free trade agreement between the GCC and India and resume the negotiations and conclude the same at the earliest," Goyal told reporters here i

Australian Parliament clears path for free trade agreement with India

Both nations prepare for New Year roll-out; DTAA with New Delhi amended, too

Committed to working quickly on UK-India free trade agreement: Rishi Sunak

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

India to start talks for new FTA with a region next week: Piyush Goyal

India will be launching negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with a region next week, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday. He said that negotiations are going on with countries, including the UK, European Union, Canada and Israel. "Next week, we will be launching one more very important FTA," Goyal said here at a function of consumer electronics. Though the minister did not disclose the name of the region, there is a likelihood that the talks may start with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as the region was keen to increase economic engagement with India. GCC is a union of six countries in the Gulf region -- Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. India has already implemented a free trade pact with the UAE in May this year. In a free trade agreement, two countries or regions either significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on a maximum number of goods traded between them. Besides, they also ease norms to promote trade and .

PM Modi, Britain's Sunak agree on 'enduring importance' of UK-India ties

The UK on Wednesday unveiled a new scheme offering 3,000 places annually to 18 to 30 year-old degree-educated Indian nationals to come to Britain to live and work for up to two years following the first meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak on the sidelines of the G-20 summit here. The British PM's office said the leaders agreed on the "enduring importance" of the UK-India relationship, and of the "living bridge" between our countries and that Sunak passed on his thanks to Modi for the "overwhelming" response of the Indian people to his appointment as the prime minister. Modi also held separate bilateral meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese and the major focus of all the meetings was to boost defence and economic engagement. After his talks with Sunak, Modi said India ...

India trade deal offers biggest hope for UK economy heading for a crisis

It has been anything but a smooth ride for the Rishi Sunak led UK government, with the latest official data released this week reflecting a shrinking economy and a looming two-year-long recession. The British Indian former finance minister, who took charge at 10 Downing Street last month with the promise to fix the fiscal errors of predecessor Liz Truss' disastrous mini-budget, has pledged to get a grip on the soaring inflation as a priority and warned of tough tax and spending decisions ahead. Economic experts agree on the massive scale of the challenge, even as they hold out the prospect of a free trade agreement (FTA) with India as a potential generator of much-needed economic growth. The economic crisis in the UK is caused by some new and some longstanding factors, explains Dr Anna Valero, Senior Policy Fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE) Centre for Economic Performance. High inflation, high interest rates and tightening fiscal policy occurs against the backdrop of .

British officials may visit India next month for FTA talks: Govt sources

"It will take 3-4 months of steady negotiations to complete this agreement, with broad understanding over issues such as mobility and short-term work visas to the UK," the official said

Trade service officers to engage more in FTA negotiations, policy making

Indian trade service officers would be engaged more in the negotiations of free trade agreements (FTA), industry deliberations and policy-making, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Tuesday. He was addressing an Indian Trade Service Officers conference, which was held at Kevadia, Gujarat. It was conducted for brainstorming on future foreign trade policy (FTP), and to formulate sector-wise and state-wise export strategies to boost exports from India. Over 75 officers attended the conference. The secretary emphasised the importance of specialising in the specific area of international trade. He underlined the importance of institutional memory for any department and urged the trade service officers to specialise, and become a more effective resource for the Department of Commerce. "He also laid out the plans for deeper engagement of the cadre into FTA negotiations, industry deliberations and policy making," the commerce ministry said in a statement. Earlier, Director General

TMS Ep297: Elon Musk & Twitter, India's China trade data, markets, FTA

Is Elon Musk rewriting the HR rulebook at Twitter? How reliable is India's China trade data? Will the markets consolidate in this holiday-truncated week? What is a free trade agreement? Answers here

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

FTA with India to be expedited in next few months: British envoy

India and the United Kingdom are set up for the final ascent on signing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and expediting the pact in the next few months is one of the main aims of the two sides, British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis said on Friday. He said the two sides have got through the majority of the negotiations, but there are tough issues like the security of investments of British companies where some in the past had found difficulty in regard to the now-scrapped retrospective tax, in an apparent reference to the long-drawn Vodafone case. On extradition to India of economic fugitives like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, Ellis said it is no longer a government matter. The British Home Secretary had signed the extradition of businessman Mallya over three years ago and it is the issue that now lies with the court, he said. The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they do turn, he said at the India Today Conclave here Mallya, accused of cheating and fraud in India, has been ...

India looking at greater market access for pharma products in UK under FTA

India is looking at greater market access for its pharmaceutical products in the UK as part of the proposed free trade agreement with Britain, an official said on Friday. The official also said that a leaked chapter of the agreement, which is floated on some portals, on intellectual property (IP) is edited, distorted, and is a manipulated version of an initial document of the UK. "The best part in the proposed agreement is that both sides have highlighted their red lines and sensitivities. Ever-greening and touching manufacturing of generic medicines is completely non-negotiable," the official added. India has already secured greater market access for the domestic pharma industry in a trade pact with the UAE. Under the pact, Indian pharmaceutical products and medical goods will get regulatory approval within 90 days that have been approved in developed jurisdictions such as the US, the UK, the EU, Canada, and Australia. Similarly, the India-Australia trade deal would provide ...

India, UK working sincerely for finalisation of free trade agreement: MEA

India on Thursday said it is working "sincerely" with the UK for finalisation of the proposed free trade agreement, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak agreed on the "early conclusion" of the deal. "Both sides are working sincerely on the free trade agreement," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. His comments came when asked about the FTA during a media briefing. "As we have said earlier, the matter of negotiations is best left to the trade ministers and their teams of officials. I cannot comment on the status. I certainly do not have any target date," Bagchi said. The issue of the FTA figured in the first telephonic conversation between the two prime ministers on October 27. In a tweet on his talks with Sunak, Modi said: "Congratulated him on assuming charge as UK PM. We will work together to further strengthen our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. We also agreed on the importance of early conclusion of a ...