India, U.K. Move Towards Free Trade Agreement

India and the United Kingdom (U.K.) have started working in the direction of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) following Britain's exit from the European Union (EU), the ministry of commerce and industry tweeted.

2/3- Post Brexit, FTA with UK will be a fresh exercise & work on FTA with EU will continue with a re-calibarted approach :Smt @nsitharaman

3/3 Have invited Chief negotiator from UK's side to engage with our Chief negotiator to take forward the entire process :Smt @nsitharaman

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met U.K.'s secretary of state for business, innovation and skill, Sajid Javid on Friday.

When asked whether an FTA with the U.K. is the way forward after factoring in Brexit, Sitharaman told BloombergQuint, “Whether it is a PTA (Preferential Trade Agreement) or an FTA, that will be a mutually discussed matter of what kind of a framework we will have to go through.”

Brexit affects India's advantage when signing an FTA with the EU, and needs to be examined, commerce secretary Rita Teotia told BloombergQuint on June 24 – the day U.K. voted to exit the EU. Negotiations for a comprehensive FTA between India and the EU started in June 2007, according to the EU website.

(With inputs from Ashpreet Sethi)

Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.