While India is looking to export more labour-intensive goods to the EU with increased market access, the EU aims to export more automobiles and liquor to India. Sources further added that the European Union’s recent nod to India’s fisheries exports will offset the loss of export avenues for the sector due to the US tariffs.
Last week, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had said that over 65% of chapters had been finalised in the India-EU FTA negotiations during the 13th round of negotiations in New Delhi. Earlier, sources had indicated that guidance will be taken from Ministers on both sides on remaining issues, which may need a political call.
Both sides had exchanged offers related to their services sectors during the 12th round of negotiations in Brussels, where they discussed key interest areas in the domain of market access for goods.
In June 2025, government sources had told CNBC TV18 that extra sessions were being held in the India-European Union (EU) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, with the frequency of meetings having increased from quarterly to monthly.
Earlier, CNBC-TV18 had reported that India and the EU were keeping options open for an early harvest deal, like the one India had signed with Australia. The early harvest deal will include issues like tariff and non-tariff barriers, Intellectual property rights, government procurement, technical barriers to trade, and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.
India and the EU are pursuing a two-stage approach to finalise an FTA, apart from a bilateral investment protection agreement and recognition of geographical indications (GIs) with the 27-member bloc.
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