5th round of India-UK FTA

On 29 July, India, and the UK concluded their fifth round of talks on free trade agreement. The two countries aspire to seal the deal by the end of October, according to India’s Commerce and Industry Ministry.

“For this round of negotiations, technical experts from both sides came together for detailed draft treaty text discussions in 85 separate sessions covering 15 policy areas,” said the ministry in a release. “India and the UK officials will continue to work intensively throughout the summer towards our target to conclude the majority of talks on a comprehensive and balanced Free Trade Agreement by the end of October 2022,” it added.

The agreement is expected to double India-UK bilateral trade to about US$ 100 billion by 2030. In the previous rounds of the negotiations, the UK had agreed to eliminate duty on Indian rice and textile goods, whereas India is open to allow British apples, UK-manufactured medical devices, and machinery to be duty free in the country.

The two trade partners may also ink an agreement on mutual recognition of higher education qualifications. Consequently, India will likely get more skilled visas as the UK is currently facing a shortage of experts in the IT and programming sectors.