EFTA TEPA: Trade Deal With Four European Nations To Be Operationalised Later This Year

The implementation process of free trade agreement between India and the four-nation European bloc EFTA is set to be operationalised before the end of this year, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.

The pact — Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement — was signed last March, between India and the EFTA, whose members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

"Significant steps have been taken to ratify TEPA via discussion with the four countries and we hope to operationalise TEPA in later part of this year," Goyal told reporters.

For context, TEPA is the first such FTA signed by India, which has an inbuilt commitment of $100 billion in foreign direct investment and is expected to create one million direct jobs in the next 15 years for Indians.

"We envision an overall investment of $400-500 billion. About 4-5 million jobs will also be created indirectly. The four countries will also benefit from significant market access to India, which is rapidly growing and is set to add $30 trillion to the economy in the next 30 years," Goyal said.

Several products such as Swiss watches, chocolates and cut and polished diamonds will also be allowed to enter India at lower or zero duties.

TEPA has 14 chapters, with main focus on market access related to goods, rules of origin, trade facilitation, trade remedies, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, investment promotion, market access on services, intellectual property rights, trade and sustainable development and other legal and horizontal provisions.

In furtherance to the agreement, India is also setting up a dedicated desk for EFTA within the Invest India department, to act as a centralised support mechanism for EFTA companies looking to expand in India. It will provide market insights and regulatory guidance, business matchmaking, and assistance in navigating India's policy and investment landscape.