India-UK FTA talks likely to resume in April-June to resolve pending issues
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: India and the UK are expected to restart talks on their proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between April and June, the first quarter of the UK’s fiscal year, two people aware of the matter said. The talks, which aim to resolve outstanding issues, have been ongoing since January 2022 but stalled in May this year after a high-ranking British delegation canceled its visit to New Delhi ahead of the general election in the UK.
The talks will resume from where they were paused—the 14th round. Also read | India, EU aiming for a mutually beneficial FTA: Piyush Goyal However, with the change in leadership in the UK, it is not yet certain that the 14th round of talks, which began in January, will be the final round of discussions, as was agreed upon during the tenure of former British prime minister Rishi Sunak, the first of the two people mentioned above said. Both countries are also negotiating a bilateral investment treaty as part of the broader FTA discussions.
The agreement is expected to cover 26 chapters, including goods, services, investments and intellectual property rights. Bilateral trade reached $21.34 billion in 2023-24, up from $20.36 billion in 2022-23. In it, merchandise trade has grown from $11.46 billion in FY23 to $12.98 billion in FY24 while services trade declined slightly from $8.90 billion in FY23 to $8.36 billion in FY24.
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