India Receives Cabinet Approval For FTA With European Bloc, To Ink Pact Tomorrow

Negotiations have been going on between India and the EFTA since January 2008 regarding the agreement, officially known as the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) 

India is set to sign a free trade agreement with the four-nation European bloc, EFTA, on Sunday, an official revealed. The trade agreement is aimed at enhancing two-way trade in goods, services, and investments between India and the EFTA bloc, including Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. 

According to a report by PTI, the official informed that the agreement was approved by the Union Cabinet earlier this week on Thursday. Notably, negotiations have been going on between India and the EFTA since January 2008 regarding the agreement, officially known as the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA). 

Both the parties aim to enhance economic ties via the trade pact. The agreement includes 14 chapters, such as trade in goods, intellectual property rights (IPRs), rules of origin, trade in services, government procurement, investment promotion and cooperation, trade barriers, and trade facilitation, among others. 

Currently, the EFTA has 29 free trade agreements (FTAs) with 40 partner nations, like Chile, China, Korea, Canada, and Mexico. As part of these agreements, both trading parties lower or eliminate tariffs on the maximum quantity of goods traded between them, and further relax regulations to give a boost to trade in services and investments.

The EFTA nations are not included in the European Union (EU). The bloc was formed as an inter-governmental organisation to enhance and take ahead free traded. It was developed to provide an alternative to states that didn’t want to be a part of the European community.

Notably, official data from the commerce ministry revealed that India’s exports to the EFTA nations touched $1.92 billion in 2022-23, higher from $1.74 billion in the preceding 2021-22 period. The imports during the 2022-23 period stood at $16.74 billion, as compared to $25.5 billion imports clocked during the earlier 2021-22 fiscal year, with the trade gap existing in favour of the EFTA.