India-EU Ties

After the India-EU FTA, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent slams Europe for prioritising trade over sanctions on Russian oil amid the Ukraine war

India's FTA with the EU boosts market access for 99% of exports, aiding labour-intensive sectors while cheaper EU machinery imports could support domestic manufacturing

India and the EU will set up rapid response and escalation mechanisms under the FTA to address regulatory measures like CBAM that could disrupt bilateral trade

Proposed EU trade pact could shift sourcing from Southeast Asia to Indian export clusters

India will allow EU banks to open up to 15 branches over four years under the trade pact, while Indian banks will face no such cap in the EU

European wines are set to enter the Indian market at lower prices under the bilateral free trade agreement as India will provide import duty concessions under the pact, an official said. Under the pact, the duty on EU wines would fall from 150 per cent to 20 per cent (for expensive ones). For wines below 2.5 euros, there will be no duty concessions. Indian wines, too, will get duty concessions in the EU member countries. India and the European Union (EU) on Tuesday announced the conclusion and finalisation of negotiations for a free trade agreement. The agreement is expected to be signed later this year and may come into force from early next year. The talks were concluded after 18 years. The negotiations started in 2007. Under the agreement, India will be giving duty concessions to the wines of the European Union (EU) in line with what it has agreed for Australia and New Zealand, but with slightly lower thresholds. It was a key demand for the EU. The official said Indian wine t

India and European Union on Tuesday explored ways to integrate their defence supply chains under a broader goal of deepening bilateral strategic ties. The issue figured prominently at a meeting Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held with European Union's chief of foreign and security affairs Kaja Kallas. "Discussed a range of bilateral security and defence issues including opportunities for integrating supply chains for building trusted defence ecosystems and future-ready capabilities," Singh said on X. "Looking forward to greater cooperation between India and the EU countries," he said. The meeting took place ahead of the India-EU summit talks.

India and the European Union will unveil a Security and Defence Partnership at the 16th India-EU Summit, alongside progress on a free trade agreement, mobility framework & wider strategic cooperatio

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said India's success benefits global stability as she and European Council President António Costa attended the Republic Day parade ahead of the Indi

The EU's revised GSP rules will affect just 2.66% of India's exports to the bloc, with most major industrial sectors already graduated due to higher competitiveness

At the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, von der Leyen signalled progress, stating the European Union is close to concluding the agreement but acknowledged that additional work remains

ACEA urges full tariff removal on auto parts, cautions against licences and residual duties as India and EU eye announcing deal at January 27 summit

Goyal said there would be no compromise on the country's interests and that all sensitive issues, such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and dairy, would be addressed to India's satisfaction

The free trade agreement between India and the 27-nation bloc EU will be the "mother of all deals", Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday. He also said that the proposed agreement will be a good and mutually beneficial trade pact. "This will be the mother of all deals," Goyal told reporters here. He also said that the bilateral trade between the two sides is reasonably balanced in goods and services. It will also be a "super deal" for Indian export sectors, he added. Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrwal on Thursday said India and the EU are "very close" to concluding negotiations on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA). He said the discussions are underway to resolve remaining issues so that the deal is ready for announcement during the visit of top EU leadership later this month. The government has finalised seven trade agreements since 2014.

India is pushing hard to conclude the EU trade deal to diversify export markets as pressure builds elsewhere, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said after Modi-Merz talks

With the world order looking wobbly, the European Union is eyeing to forge a broad global agenda in partnership with India and the two sides are set to firm up a free trade pact, a defence framework agreement and a strategic agenda at their annual summit on January 27. Top diplomatic sources told PTI that the free trade agreement to be sealed at the summit in New Delhi will be a "living document" on which work could be continued to iron out any issues that remain unresolved. "India and the EU can set the agenda for global governance, along with France, in the absence of the US," a senior EU official said. "India is one of the big players that we work with and can rely on." The proposed India-EU free trade agreement is expected to bring the relationship between the two sides much closer, with its positive impact being expected in a range of other sectors as well, at a time the world is witnessing trade disruptions in view of Washington's tariff policy. It is learnt that the two side

India and the five-nation grouping Eurasian Economic Commission have reviewed the roadmap for their proposed free trade agreement in goods with an aim to boost economic ties between the two, according to an official statement on Sunday. On August 20 this year, India and the Eurasian Economic Union bloc inked terms of reference to start formal negotiations for a proposed free trade agreement. Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal has visited Moscow last week to hold talks with Minister in charge of Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission Andrey Slepnev and Russian Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Mikhail Yurin. "In the meeting with Minister Slepnev, the Commerce Secretary reviewed the next steps for the India-EAEU FTA in goods. The Terms of Reference signed on 20 August 2025 outline an 18-month work plan aimed at diversifying markets for Indian businesses, including MSMEs, farmers and fishermen," the commerce ministry said on Sunday. The five members of the Eurasian Economic Unio

Negotiators of India and the EU on Monday commenced talks to resolve outstanding issues in the proposed free trade agreement, as the deadline to conclude the talks nears, the commerce ministry said. A team of negotiators from the European Union (EU) is here from November 3-7 for negotiations with Indian counterparts on the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Deliberations during the week will focus on core areas, including trade in goods, trade in services, rules of origin amongst others, along with technical and institutional matters. "The engagements aim to resolve key outstanding issues and advance the agreement toward a balanced and equitable framework that benefits both sides," the ministry said in a statement. This visit follows Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal's official visit to Brussels (27-28 October, 2025), where he held forward-looking discussions with Maros Sefcovic, European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security. "These consultations reaff

All the 27 member nations of the European Union have unanimously backed the block's new strategic agenda with India that seeks to significantly ramp up two-way ties in several key sectors such as defence, trade and technology. The new document was released by the European Commission and the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy Kaja Kallas last month. The European Council comprising representatives of all the EU member nations unanimously supported it on Monday, according to EU officials. The new strategic agenda is expected to be adopted at the India-EU summit that is expected to be held in New Delhi early next year. The new strategic agenda identifies five areas of shared interest that include security and defence, connectivity and global issues, prosperity, sustainability, technology and innovation. Beyond the bilateral dimension, the new strategic agenda highlights EU-India joint engagement on global issues and with third partners, reflecting India's .

The EU is India's largest trading partner for goods, with two-way trade of $137.5 billion in the fiscal year to March 2024, for an increase of nearly 90 per cent over the past decade