India-EU to review FTA negotiations this week

India and the European Union (EU) representatives will meet this week to take stock of the progress of the ongoing India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, commerce ministry officials said.

The meeting, to be co-chaired by India’s Commerce Secretary and Director General (Trade) of EU, will also discuss Trade and Technology Council issues and prepare for the next round of High-Level Dialogue and political-level engagements on India-EU FTA. 

According to the European Commission’s report on the 9th round of India-EU FTA negotiations held in New Delhi during September 23-27, the two sides were not able to put forward a concrete date for the next (10th) round of negotiations as such an assessment of the progress of negotiations after years of intensive talks was pending at the political level.

The EU is India's largest trading partner, accounting for 12.2% of total Indian trade, topping the USA (10.8%) and China (10.5%). The region is the second-largest destination for Indian exports (17.5% of the total) after the USA (17.6%). 

The most recent round of talks – the ninth round of India-EU FTA negotiations had covered 20 policy areas in 78 technical sessions. Both sides focused on core trade issues covering goods, services, investment and government procurement along with necessary rules such as rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, technical barriers to trade (TBT) and trade measures.

The European Commission’s report on the 9th round of India-EU FTA negotiations stated that good progress was made in matters related to SPS measures, dispute settlement and good regulatory practices during the 9th round.

Indian officials said the concerns of India continuing from the previous rounds of negotiations were also taken up with the EU side during the 9th round of discussions. Indian industry and other stakeholders are worried about the impact of EU’s national laws on various sustainability measures like Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and Deforestation Regulation as it can hurt their export prospects to the EU. 

Once the political level assessment happens, EU negotiators expect the next round of talks to happen in Brussels in the first quarter of 2025.

The negotiations of the India-EU FTA were re-launched after a nine-year lull along with fresh talks for a stand-alone Investment Protection Agreement (IPA) and a Geographical Indicators (GIs) Agreement in 2022. The earlier negotiations were left off in 2013 due to differences in the scope and expectations of the deal.