Starting October 6, 2025, senior representatives from India and the 27 member states of the European Union will gather in Brussels for their 14th round of discussions on a potential free trade agreement. These five-day talks are critical, as both sides aim to resolve outstanding issues and finalize the ambitious pact.
India’s Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal, recently voiced his optimism for the agreement’s speedy finalization. This proposed pact is designed to significantly boost two-way trade and investments between India and the EU.
With a firm deadline set for December, Minister Goyal is expected to meet EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic in South Africa later this month to assess the negotiation progress. Sefcovic, alongside European Commission’s Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen, previously met with Goyal in India to advance discussions, emphasizing the shared goal of concluding talks before the year’s end.
These talks mark a significant resumption, as India and the EU reignited negotiations in June 2022 for a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA), an investment protection agreement, and a pact on geographical indications. Discussions had been paused for over eight years, having stalled in 2013 primarily due to disagreements over market access.
The European Union’s demands include substantial duty reductions on products such as automobiles, medical devices, wine, spirits, meat, and poultry. Additionally, the EU is pushing for a robust intellectual property rights framework within the agreement.
Should the agreement be successfully implemented, Indian exports to the EU market, including ready-made garments, pharmaceuticals, steel, petroleum products, and electrical machinery, are expected to gain significant competitive advantages.
The broad scope of the India-EU trade pact encompasses 23 distinct policy areas. These include crucial aspects like trade in goods and services, investment protections, health and plant safety standards (sanitary and phytosanitary measures), technical trade barriers, dispute resolution mechanisms, intellectual property rights, geographical indications, and commitments to sustainable development.
Currently, the EU stands as India’s largest trading partner for goods, with bilateral trade reaching $136.53 billion in 2024-25, comprising $75.85 billion in exports from India and $60.68 billion in imports. The EU market alone absorbs approximately 17% of India’s total exports, while the bloc’s exports to India make up 9% of its global shipments. Furthermore, bilateral trade in services between India and the EU was a substantial $51.45 billion in 2023.