Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the 27-nation European Union is set
to be the “mother of all deals”, with negotiations now in their final stages and an announcement likely by January 27. Calling it a “super deal”, Goyal said the India–EU trade pact would be mutually beneficial and open up massive opportunities for Indian exporters. “This will be the mother of all deals,” he told reporters, adding that the agreement would significantly boost India’s export sectors. The expected conclusion of talks coincides with the state visit of European Council President Antonio Luis Santos da Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to India from January 25 to 27. The two leaders will also be chief guests at India’s 77th Republic Day celebrations. Goyal noted that trade between India and the EU is already reasonably balanced across goods and services and said the two economies complement each other rather than compete. The agreement, he added, would unlock new avenues for growth on both sides. Once concluded, the India–EU FTA would become the largest trade pact ever signed by India, covering 27 developed economies including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. Since 2014, the NDA government has finalised seven trade agreements with partners such as Australia, the UK, the UAE, New Zealand, Oman, Mauritius and the EFTA bloc. Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal echoed the optimism on Thursday, saying India and the EU are “very close” to sealing the deal, with discussions focused on resolving the remaining issues in time for the visit of top EU leadership later this month. The pact assumes added significance amid disruptions in global trade following the US decision to impose high tariffs, with India facing duties of up to 50 per cent on certain products. The FTA is expected to help Indian exporters diversify markets and reduce dependence on China. The EU currently accounts for about 17 per cent of India’s total exports, while exports to India make up roughly 9 per cent of the bloc’s overseas shipments. In 2024–25, bilateral trade in goods between India and the EU stood at USD 136.53 billion, with Indian exports worth USD 75.85 billion and imports at USD 60.68 billion, making the EU India’s largest goods trading partner. With a combined GDP of around USD 20 trillion and a population exceeding 450 million, the EU is one of the world’s largest trading blocs. India, with a population of 1.4 billion, exported USD 437 billion in goods and USD 387.5 billion in services in 2024–25, underlining the scale and potential impact of the proposed agreement. (With PTI inputs)
