JOIN USIndia, UK set to begin sixth round of Free Trade Agreement negotiations
India and the United Kingdom will restart negotiations for the bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) this week after a gap of five months that saw the two sides missing the Diwali deadline they had earlier this year set to clinch the deal.
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and British Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch are likely to launch the sixth round of the negotiations for the FTA. The UK is likely to focus on gaining access to the market in India for UK companies offering financial and legal services. India is expected to seek hassle-free movement of its professionals to the UK.
“I’m here in New Delhi to kickstart round six of UK-India trade negotiations and meet my counterpart Minister Goyal in person to drive progress on this agreement,” said Badenoch, who arrived in New Delhi on Monday for her meeting with Goyal.
She said that India and the UK had come to the table with the very highest of ambitions and a willingness to work together towards a mutually beneficial deal. “India and the UK are the 5th and 6th biggest economies in the world. We have a long shared history, and are in pole position to do a deal that will create jobs, encourage growth and boost our £29 billion trading relationship.”
Last month, Goyal said the agreement is a high priority for both countries. He added that things are progressing well and it will yield good results.
"We are all very well aware that it was progressing very fast until we had a little bit of a blip because of political happenings in the other country...We have a stable government...in office now (in the UK) and I am already in touch with my (UK) counterpart. We are working together to possibly have an in-person meeting also very soon but our teams are already engaged. Next month, the next round of negotiations are slated to happen," Goyal had said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had earlier set Diwali as the deadline for concluding the negotiations for the proposed India-UK trade agreement. The negotiators, however, missed the deadline.
The negotiations for the trade deal had come under a shadow after Johnson’s successor Truss’s Liz Truss’s Home Secretary Suella Braverman had expressed “concerns” and “reservation” over the possibility of the proposed agreement opening up doors for increased immigration from India to the UK. New Delhi had conveyed to London its displeasure over her remarks.
Braverman had stepped down as the Home Secretary just a few days before Truss had announced her resignation.
Truss’s successor Rishi Sunak, however, brought her back as his Home Secretary.
When Modi and Sunak met on the sideline of the G20 summit at Bali in Indonesia last month, they agreed that the India-UK trade deal would have the potential to unlock investment and increase jobs in both the countries as well as expanding our deep cultural links.
Reduction or elimination of customs duty under the pact would help Indian labour-intensive sectors like textiles, leather, gems and jewellery to boost exports in the UK market. The UK is seeking duty concessions in areas like Scotch whisky and automobiles.
The bilateral trade between the two countries increased to $17.5 billion in 2021-22 compared to $13.2 billion in 2020-21. India's exports stood at $10.5 billion in 2021-22, while imports were $7 billion.
India's main exports to the UK include ready-made garments and textiles, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, petroleum and petrochemical products, transport equipment and parts, spices, metal products, machinery and instruments, pharma and marine items.
(With PTI inputs)