India-UK FTA talks at an advanced stage, but difficult to set a timeline: Commerce Secretary 

Negotiation on the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) is at an advanced stage and efforts are on to iron out differences, said Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal on Friday, but declined to give any set timeline for signing the deal. 

Barthwal had visited London last week where he met his UK counterpart. The 13th round of negotiations has been continuing since September 18 and a team of UK officials are in New Delhi this week to take forward the talks, he told reporters. 

The negotiations cover 26 policy areas and a majority of the chapters are either closed or at an advanced stage.   

Barthwal’s comments come amidst expectations that the two countries will wrap up negotiations by month end, ahead of the planned visit of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. There have been expectations that the two countries may sign the deal ahead of Diwali. 

Apart from the UK, India will also take forward negotiations on trade talks with the European Union and Australia this month. The sixth round of negotiation for the India- EU FTA is scheduled to be held from October 16 to 20 in Brussels. 

The seventh round of negotiations for the India- Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement is scheduled to take place in the third week of October through a hybrid mode. Both sides are looking at swift progress in the negotiations. 

Meanwhile, the commerce secretary also expressed hope of improved growth in exports and a positive growth in the next six months of the fiscal.  India’s merchandise exports fell 2.59 per cent to $34.47 billion in September from $35.4 billion in September 2022, as per data released by the commerce ministry on Friday. Merchandise imports also fell by 15 per cent year on year to $53.84 billion in September 2023 from $63.37 billion a year ago. The trade deficit was at $19.37 billion in the month. 

As of now, there is not much impact on India’s trade from the Israel-Hamas war. “I don’t see much impact from the Israel conflict unless it gets escalated and drawn for a long period of time. We are waiting and watching,” he said in response to a question. 

In a statement, the commerce ministry noted that India’s trade deficit has shown considerable decline in April-September 2023. Overall trade deficit for April-September 2023 is estimated at $39.91 billion as compared to the deficit of $75.34 billion during April-September 2022, registering a decline of 47.03 per cent. The merchandise trade deficit during April-September 2023 is $115.58 billion compared to $140.83 billion during April-September 2022, registering a decline of 17.93 per cent, it further said.