India and UK are likely to operationalise their Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CEPA) by April this year as the ratification process gains pace in the UK, an  official said.

The agreement was debated at length in the House of Commons and the resolution at the end of the debate said that the “This House has considered the India-UK FTA”.

The  House of Lords is due to debate a take note motion on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the UK and India on 4 March. After the approval of UK Parliament the agreement is ratified.

In India the ratification of FTAs is through executive process, needing Cabinet approval. After ratification both countries will decide on the day the agreement will enter into force.

The CETA will allow 99% of the Indian exports to enter the UK duty free and cover almost 100% of the trade in value terms. For the UK, India will reduce or eliminate duties on 90% of the tariff lines that account for 92% of the imports.

The immediate target for the FTA is to double bilateral trade – both goods and services – to $ 120 billion by 2030 from $ 56.9 billion in 2024-25. The talks on the agreement began in January 2022 and were concluded on May 6 last year. 

The agreement was formally signed on July 24. 2025. Initially the agreement was to cover 26 chapters or policy areas but by the end of talks their number has gone up to 30.

In CETA India gets duty-free access to the UK for its labour intensive exports like textiles, gems and jewellery, agriculture and food processing, marine products, engineering goods, auto components, chemicals. 

For the UK the gains are in whiskey, automobiles, gins, soft drinks, cosmetics, cars, medical devices, lamb, fish, chocolate and biscuits. 

The agreement also provides greater market access in IT and IT-enabled services, financial and legal services, professional and educational services, and digital trade. I

India and the UK have also signed an agreement on the social security agreement – Double Contribution Convention as part of the CETA package. The agreement was signed on February 10 in New Delhi and will come into effect together with CETA.

This will exempt Indian professionals and their employers from social security payments in the UK for up to three years, improving the cost competitiveness of Indian talent. This will ensure savings of around 20% of salary and is expected to benefit more than 60000 employees from the IT sector alone. Benefits to Indian companies and employees could exceed Rs 4000 crore.