FTA with UK 'gold standard' for balanced agreements: Piyush Goyal

The pact will help boost exports of labour-intensive products like footwear, textiles and gems and jewellery, Piyush Goyal added

The recently signed trade agreement with the United Kingdom (UK) has the potential to serve as a ‘gold standard’ to strike a balance between protecting India’s ‘sensitive sectors’, while opening doors for labour intensive sectors facing global competition, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday.

 

According to him, deal will be an important stepping stone to many more agreements with other advanced economies, which sets the benchmark of high quality free trade agreements (FTAs) that India will be doing in the future. 

 

“The effort is that our Indian industry gets preferential access over our competition. I think this can become a gold standard to ensure that India protects sensitive sectors and opens the doors, particularly in areas where its highly labor intensive in competition with our other competitors in other countries, and allows high quality goods of technology and other products to come to India,” Goyal said at a press conference on the India-UK trade deal that was signed on Thursday.

 

Under the trade agreement, India has protected its sensitivities and excluded inclusion of items such as dairy, rice, apples, sugar, among other items. On the other hand, the pact will help boost exports of labour-intensive products including footwear, textiles and gems and jewellery. 

 

Goyal’s statement came against the backdrop of India's dissatisfaction with the FTAs signed with countries such as Japan, South Korea and ASEAN bloc. This is because India believes that it didn’t gain much from these deals. Besides some of these pacts, according to officials have been misused owing to its weak rules that resulted in a rise in imports via third country such as China.

 

The minister further said that inclusion of intellectual property rights (IPR) is a huge ‘achievement’. “We didn’t allow evergreening, yet we have a robust chapter on IPR,” he said. 

 

According to commerce department officials, the trade deal the IPR represents a balanced and forward-looking approach—fully aligned with India’s legal framework, TRIPS flexibilities, and public health priorities. It strengthens cooperation while preserving India’s sovereign rights in matters of patent policy and access to essential medicines.

 

Under the deal, 99 per cent of Indian exports will enter the UK duty-free. The deal also has a review clause, which states that the deal can be reviewed five-years after its implementation.

OTHER FTAs

Goyal further said that negotiations for a trade deal with the United States (US) is making ‘fast progress’.

 

However, he did not specify whether an interim deal can be sealed with the US before the August 1 deadline set by the Trump administration for implementation of reciprocal tariffs.

 

Government officials had earlier said that the next round of negotiations with the US will take place in the second half of August — limiting the possibility of an interim trade deal over the next few days. He also said that FTA negotiations with Oman are almost finalised.