India and the European Union will aim to bring their free trade agreement into force within calendar year 2026, Commerce Minister Piyush Giyal said on Tuesday.
"Every agreement stands on its own legs, and this is a wonderful agreement. It will be taken up on legal scrubbing on a fast-track basis, as we discussed today, and translated into 24 languages simultaneously. We do hope that we should be able to celebrate the entry into force of this agreement within calendar 2026," the minister told a press conference in New Delhi.
The landmark FTA, dubbed 'mother of all trade deals', covers 99% of total Indian exports to EU and 97% of EU's exports to India.
"This is India's 8th FTA with a developed country since 2014. A plethora of investment opportunities and markets have opened up. India has gained in marine products, leather, footwear, apparel, clothing, gems and jewellery, toys, sporting goods while the EU has gained access to the fastest growing economy," Goyal said.
Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said a technical group will be set up to discuss market access for India SMEs despite the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), a bone of contention between the two sides.
"CBAM is a horizontal regulation which is applicable to all partner countries across the globe. Under FTA, there are certain provisions that we have agreed under CBAM. One, a technical dialogue has been agreed to be set up which will address the pathway for our industries to access the market in spite of the CBAM regulation being there," he said.
"We'll be working together to see that the verifiers for CBAM in India are also accredited by the use agencies so that our industry is able to access them. We'll also be working together to see and understand the technical processes through which this CBM measurement will be done in both economies," Agrawal added.
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