India is on track to seal a long-awaited free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union before the close of calendar 2025, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said today. “During the historic European Commission visit to New Delhi on February 28, our leaders – Prime Minister Modi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – gave clear guidance that we must conclude the EU–India FTA before the end of this year,” he added. “I’m pleased to report that we are very much on track to achieve that.”
Goyal noted that significant progress has already been made: more than half of the negotiation chapters have been finalised, and teams are roughly 90 per cent ready on market-access provisions. “Starting Monday, we will kick off intensive talks on services and rules of origin. These shouldn’t be difficult, though there may be a few areas where ministerial-level intervention is necessary,” he said.
A key focus remains dismantling non-tariff barriers to ensure smoother, two-way trade flows. “The important issue to be addressed between us is non-tariff barriers and how we will make it smoother, easier and better to do business between European Union and India. It is a two way traffic,” he emphasised.
“An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind,” Goyal said, adding, “unless countries recognise that over-regulation and barriers to trade will be met with reciprocal action, everyone suffers.”
Goyal praised the “sincerity of purpose” demonstrated by his counterpart, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, and expressed confidence that both sides will arrive at “robust solutions” to streamline regulations, lower compliance costs and remove impediments to free trade. “I am confidence that we are very close to finalising this deal,” he added.
Later this month, an EU delegation led by Sefcovic is slated to visit New Delhi for high-level talks aimed at resolving the remaining issues. Insiders say negotiators are targeting a final text by November, paving the way for member-state ratification before the end of December. Both sides view the agreement not only as a boost to trade volumes but as a strategic partnership that will strengthen economic ties in an increasingly interconnected global marketplace.
Talks for an India-EU free trade deal resumed in 2021 after an eight-year hiatus. The EU is India’s largest trading partner in goods, with two-way trade growing about 90 per cent over a decade to reach $137.5 billion in the 2023-24 fiscal year. Meanwhile, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa has urged both sides to tackle tariffs and non-tariff barriers, warning that “both in the EU and in India we are just a bit over-regulated right now.”
