Page 16 - Fta

India proposes slashing EV import taxes to clinch UK free trade deal

The UK's demand for import concessions on electric vehicles is one of the few outstanding issues in the free trade talks

India, United Kingdom negotiations for proposed FTA going on, says Official

Negotiations between senior officials of India and the UK on the proposed free trade agreement are going on with a view to bridge differences on issues related to goods and services sector, a senior government official said. "Talks on the 13th round is underway virtually. We have not talked about any deadlines to conclude talks," the official said. India and Britain launched the talks for Free-Trade Agreement (FTA) in January 2022, with an aim to conclude talks by Diwali (October 24, 2022), but the deadline was missed due to political developments in the UK. There are 26 chapters in the agreement, which include goods, services, investments, and intellectual property rights. The investment treaty is being negotiated as a separate agreement between India and the UK. The Indian industry is demanding greater access for its skilled professionals from sectors like IT, and healthcare in the UK market, besides market access for several goods at nil customs duties. On the other hand, the

India, EU discuss progress in the Free Trade Agreement negotiations

The Group of Seven is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and the US

India, UK trade ministers review progress of talks on proposed FTA

India and the UK on Saturday reviewed the progress of negotiations of the proposed free trade agreement (FTA), talks for which have reached the final stage. The progress was reviewed by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch in Osaka, Japan. Both ministers are in Japan for the Group of Seven (G7) trade ministers meeting in Osaka. Discussed the progress of India-UK free trade agreement negotiations with UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch, Goyal said on social media platform X. Negotiations between senior officials of India and the UK are on to bridge differences on issues such as rules of origin and services sector, with an aim to conclude the talks for the proposed FTA at the earliest. India and Britain launched the talks for a trade agreement in January 2022, with an aim to conclude them by Diwali last year (October 24, 2022), but the deadline was missed due to political developments in th

India negotiates for UK carbon tax concessions in proposed FTA deal

FTA talks in final stage, but some differences still remain

India, UK free trade deal unlikely to finalise by month end: Report

Both sides already missed the Diwali deadline last year former set by former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Hopes of sealing India-UK trade deal this month may be fading: Report

The hope that the ongoing 13th round of negotiations towards an India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) could conclude with a deal for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to sign off in time for the India versus England World Cup cricket clash in Lucknow on October 29 seem to be fading, according to a UK media report on Wednesday. The Financial Times' quoted officials briefed on the negotiations to say that a lack of movement towards opening up of the Indian market to British professional services in the field of law and accountancy is among the factors for the slowdown. So much so that cricket fan Sunak's proposed return visit to India after an inaugural visit as UK Prime Minister to New Delhi for the G20 Summit last month is looking very, very unlikely to happen. The discussions are not where we want them to be, the newspaper quoted a British official familiar with the talks as saying. The Prime Minister has said he will not sign a trade deal on arbitrary deadlines. He's going to do t

India needs to be cautious of carbon levy in FTA, says GTRI report

India must make domestic rules and standards before taking commitments under the FTAs on non-trade issues

India's labour-intensive goods to get benefit: GTRI on FTA with UK

India's high quality labour-intensive goods such as apparel, footwear, carpets and cars will benefit from the removal of import duties by the UK, under the proposed free trade agreement between the two countries, according to think tank GTRI. However, the overall gains for India will be limited because most of the goods from here are already entering the UK at low or zero tariffs (import or customs duties), the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said. In 2022-23, India's merchandise exports to the UK were valued at USD 11.41 billion and out of this, USD 6 billion worth of goods such as petroleum products, medicines, diamonds, machine parts, airplanes, and wooden furniture entered Britain at zero levy, it said. "The FTA is expected to have a limited impact on increasing these exports because over half of Indian products already enter the UK with low or no tariffs. The average duty on goods imported from India into the UK is 4.2 per cent," GTRI Co-Founder Ajay Srivastava ...

FTA talks between India and UK at advanced stage, says Commerce Secy

The negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement between India and the UK are at an advanced stage, and both sides are working to iron out differences on the remaining issues, a top government official said on Friday. Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that negotiations on tough issues are underway. "These negotiations are in the advance stage. These are going on, and we are ironing out the differences. We should wait till these negotiations are over because the 13th round is going on," he told reporters here. These remarks assume significance as both sides are expected to conclude the talks this month and may sign the deal in the last week. A majority of the 26 chapters are closed and for the remaining issues, high-level engagements at various levels are ongoing. An official delegation from the UK is here for the negotiations. A team led by Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal was in London recently to give an impetus to the talks. The UK team dealing with investment-rela

India-Peru to recommence free trade agreement negotiation on Tuesday

There will also be discussions on services, the movement of people, and the investment chapter later in the month based on the mutual convenience of the negotiators

India, UK looking at possible visit of PM Sunak to New Delhi soon

India and the UK are looking at a possible visit to New Delhi by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak soon but it may finally depend on whether the two sides could resolve the remaining differences to firm up the much-awaited free trade agreement (FTA), people familiar with the matter said on Monday. The two sides were exploring the possibility of having the visit around October 28 but nothing has been finalised yet, they said, suggesting that the visit is linked to the finalisation of the ambitious FTA. The two sides are learnt to have finalised around 24 of the 26 chapters in the FTA and are now looking at sealing it by bridging differences on certain contentious issues, including mobility of people and import duty concessions on certain items, they said. It is learnt that both sides were even looking at the possibility of Sunak watching the India-England World Cup one-day international cricket match in Lucknow on October 29. There is no finality on the visit, the people cited abov

British delegation to commence next round of India-UK FTA talks on Oct 9

A 30-member official delegation from the UK will start the next round of negotiations for a free trade agreement with the Indian team here from Monday to close remaining issues so that the two countries conclude the talks soon, an official has said. Both countries have recently concluded the 13th round of negotiations. A team led by Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal was in London last week to give an impetus to the talks. The UK team dealing with investment-related matters is already here, and the talks for the proposed bilateral investment treaty (BIT) with finance ministry officials are progressing at a faster pace. "The 30-member team will be here tomorrow, and both sides are attempting to close the remaining issues, such as rules of origin. Everything is at the closure level," the official said. The 'rules of origin' provision prescribes that minimal processing should happen in the FTA country so that the final manufactured product may be referred to as goods originating in tha

FTAs help India's engineering exports surge 9% to UAE, Australia in Apr-Aug

The recent Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Australia have injected fresh vigour into India's engineering exports, witnessing a notable 9 per cent surge in shipments to both nations during the April-August period of the current fiscal, an industry official said. This surge comes at a time when overall engineering exports have experienced a decline, EEPC India said on Friday. Engineering exports to the UAE during the April-August period of FY24 recorded a 9 per cent year-on-year growth, reaching USD 2.24 billion. Simultaneously, engineering exports to Australia also witnessed a substantial 9 per cent year-on-year upswing, amounting to USD 596.14 million compared to USD 548.62 million in the April-August period of FY23. "Engineering exports to UAE and Australia have been beneficial. At this juncture, we urge the government to consider more FTAs, not only with our traditional partners but also with non-traditional markets in Latin America and Africa,

US, UK, Bangladesh leading source countries for India's FTAs in 2022: Data

The US, the UK and Bangladesh were the top three source countries for foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India in 2022, according to official data. The data was shared by the Ministry of Tourism in a statement on the occasion of World Tourism Day on Wednesday. "Top 3 source countries for Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India during 2022 include United States of America (USA), Bangladesh and United Kingdom (UK)," the statement said. India received 6.19 million FTAs during 2022 as compared to 1.52 million in 2021, it said. There were 10.93 million FTAs in India during pre-pandemic year 2019. The tourism industry has shown good signs of revival after the pandemic, Union Minister of Tourism G Kishan Reddy had shared this in a written response to a query in Rajya Sabha in April. In the data, shared on Wednesday, the Ministry of Tourism also said that India received Rs 1,34,543 crore (USD 16.93 billion) in foreign exchange earnings, a "remarkable increase" from Rs 65,070 crore reco

Close to achieving mutually beneficial free trade agreement: UK minister

India and the UK are very close to achieving a mutually beneficial free trade agreement (FTA) but the aspects left to agree on are the toughest ones, Britain's Business and Trade Secretary in charge of the negotiations has told a parliamentary panel. Kemi Badenoch was answering questions posed by the cross-party House of Commons Business and Trade Committee, which scrutinises the work of the Department of Business and Trade (DBT), on Tuesday when she was asked about the timeline for signing off on the FTA which has completed 12 rounds of negotiations. The Cabinet minister was specifically asked about some UK media reports suggesting that cricket fan British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak may be planning a return visit to India next month to sign the deal on the sidelines of the World Cup being hosted across the country. We have never set a deadline. I think this is a very optimistic briefing for newspapers, responded Badenoch. We are very close. It is possible, but I wouldn't be setti

India-Canada tensions: Multi-billion economic deals at risk if rift widens

But, experts say there may not be an immediate impact

India-UK FTA talks: Good progress on rules of bilateral investment treaty

The talks on the proposed free trade agreement between India and the UK are moving and there is "good progress" on issues such as rules of origin and bilateral investment treaty (BIT), a senior official said on Friday. These were few of the issues where there were differences between the two sides. "Many things are moving very fast. Like rules of origin and bilateral investment treaty, there is a good progress. Negotiations are happening... Towards the end of the deal, it is the difficult issues which are to be closed and therefore it requires more time and more deliberations," Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal told reporters here. He said that mobility is also one of the subjects which is being negotiated. The 'rules of origin' provision prescribe that minimal processing should happen in the FTA country so that the final manufactured product may be referred as goods originating in that country. Under this provision, a country that has inked an FTA with India cannot dump goods fro

Modi, Sunak agree to 'work at pace' towards FTA at G20 bilateral meet

Negotiations good for both countries, says British deputy high commissioner on pending FTA issues

Want easier intra-company transfers for workers: India on UK FTA talks

Vikram Doraiswami said that India has been seeking the simplification of the process by which intra-company transfers happen