India-EU FTA legal review to conclude in 15-20 days; trade pact could come into force in Q1 2027: Piyush Goyal

India and the European Union (EU) are expected to complete the legal scrubbing of the free trade agreement text in the next 15-20 days, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.

India and the 27-nation bloc announced in January the conclusion of negotiations for the trade pact.

After the legal scrubbing of the text, both sides are expected to sign the agreement by the end of this year and may implement it next year.

"The EU at Brussels and we are working together to complete the legal scrubbing in the next 15-20 days," he said here at an award event of the Council of Leather Exports (CLE).

Goyal said he will be in Brussels on July 14-15, along with a delegation of business persons.

"We are going to Brussels, Spain, Brussels and Finland, because we have already started marketing Indian products, goods and services," he said.

"We have already started taking our business delegation, so that we are future-ready. We are ready to get the best out of the FTAs that we have finalised," he added.

The minister has held discussions with Maros Sefcovic, the EU Trade Commissioner.

"We are meeting the President of the European Commission and the Council, our counterparts of Trade, Digital Technology, and Foreign Minister, for the Trade and Technology Council, TTC, meetings on the 14th and 15th of this month in Brussels," Goyal said.

He added that India and the EU are also discussing ways to speed up the legal scrub of the EU-India FTA, so that it can go in for ratification in their (EU's) Commission and Parliament.

"And our effort is that in the first quarter of 2027, the EU-India FTA, which will open 27 developed countries for our businesses, which will be the mother of all these, will enter into force, will be operational, and take the country's exports to a newer height," he said.

He pointed out that leather and leather product exports have reached USD 4-4.5 billion, and the trade pacts will help create huge opportunities in developed countries.

"The new markets in developed nations that have been opened up for your sector. I think the time is right for all of you to aim big, aspire for much bigger achievements. The enabling conditions have been created," he said.

The minister asked the leather industry to aim for USD 15 billion in exports in the next 5-6 years.

"Finishing, designing, packaging, brand building. These are the areas which will define our future. Our export promotion mission is willing to extend every possible assistance that you may require," he said.

Calling for diversification of export destinations, the minister said 77 per cent of India's leather exports currently go to only 15 countries.

He said the time has come to diversify across the world.

Further, Goyal said India is in dialogue with Canada for a trade pact and expressed hope that this could be concluded by the end of the year.

In the Gulf Cooperation Council region, India already has FTAs with Oman and the UAE, and is negotiating with a six-country bloc, which could add four more countries, and take the number, under trade pacts, to 55.

India is also talking to Mexico, which would take the number to 56, and to Brazil and three other countries associated with it, taking the number to 60, he said.