India-UK FTA Discussions in Advance Stage

20 November 2023: India and the UK Official say that talks between two countries on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is in Advance Stage and will last more days or weeks. This would mean the deal wouldn’t be finalized in October.

The hectic activities of the front of FTA Talks in last few weeks has given the hope that the talks will end soon, even though both sides have officially refused to set any limits since the earlier date of Diwali last year was missed because of changes in politics in the UK.

13th round of talks began on 3rd September and is still going on. In the first week of October, India’s trade secretary went to London to push the talks forward. With all of this going on and a team from the UK coming to India to continue the round.

The talks for the planned FTA between the two countries began in January 2022 and will cover 26 policy areas or chapters. Most of the chapters are closed or are in the advanced stages of negotiations. Less contentious issues have been resolved, but long-lasting talks are still going on about issues that matter to India, such as giving its skilled workers from IT and healthcare better access to the UK market and letting some goods enter the market without paying customs taxes.

On the other hand, the UK wants a significant tax cut that other countries charge on things like scotch whisky, cars, lamb meat, sweets, and some candies. UK is also looking for more chances to sell its services in India. These services include law and financial (banking and insurance) services and telecommunications services.