The free trade agreement that is close to being finalised with the European Union (EU) will be the mother of all trade deals India has signed so far, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said Friday.
“I have done seven deals so far. All with developed economies. This one will be the mother of all. In sectors of our interest we are getting a super deal. In areas of EU interest we are giving them a super deal. It has to be a win-win. The good part is we do not compete with each other. We have different interests,” he told reporters.
The seven FTAs that the commerce minister was referring to were signed with Australia, UAE, UK, New Zealand, Oman, European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Mauritius.
Despite the progress in the negotiations, doubts remain on how India and EU would deal with the issue of carbon tax under Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The carbon tax would be an additional tax on India’s exports of steel and aluminium.
“There will be no compromise on the nation’s interests,” Goyal said in response to the CBAM issue. On the status of negotiations on the trade deal with the US the minister said that “it will also happen at the right time”.
Balancing National Interests
For India key interest in opening up markets of the 27-member economic bloc for its labour intensive exports like textiles, leather, handlooms, some processed foods and in emerging areas of manufacturing. The EU on the other hand is looking for greater opening of Indian markets for its auto exports, wines and emerging high tech manufacturing sectors.
Sensitive agriculture issues have been kept out of the deal. The EU has been protective of its beef, sugar and rice markets. India on the other hand has shielded its farm and dairy sector from competition as livelihoods of large numbers of small and marginal farmers depend on it. Within the farm sector the EU aggressively seeks markets for dairy products like cheese and wines.
Dairy has been kept out of India-EU FTA. Negotiations on the FTA are still ongoing and effort by officials is to get it ready by the India-EU Summit on January 27.
Last-Mile Push
President of the European Council António Luís Santos da Costa and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will be on a State Visit to India from 25-27 January 2026 as Chief Guests at the 77th Republic Day celebrations.
The India-EU FTA has 24 chapters that deal with an individual policy area of which negotiations on 20 have been concluded, commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal had said on Thursday.
To give a last mile push to the negotiations, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal visited Brussels last week for a meeting with EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic on January 8-9. Prior to his visit, high-level discussions between Agrawal and Weyand were held on 6-7 January. Even now both sides are engaging on a daily basis.
India and the EU started negotiations on FTA in July 2022. Since then they have held 14 rounds of negotiations and have been constantly in negotiations since October last year.
The EU is currently India’s largest trading partner and a key investor. Bilateral merchandise trade between India and EU stood at $ 90.7 billion dollars in 2024-25 with India’s exports at $ 51.0 billion and imports at $ 39.7 billion.