Bharathi Sihag, joint secretary at the ministry of commerce of India, told Abu Dhabi's National newspaper that the date had almost been set: "We will be meeting very soon, next month or October." The FTA between India and Gulf Cooperation Council has been delayed, ever since the first round held in March 2006, due to administrative reasons as the same set of officials are involved in talks with EU and Korea over similar trade pacts.
The joint working group on Indo-Thai free trade agreement will meet in May to iron out differences over the methodology on framing of rules of origin which led to the postponement of the implementation of the agreement.
India and the 27-nation European Union are negotiating Broad based Trade and Investment Agreement since June 2007, but a breakthrough has not yet been achieved due to strong differences on several of the issues.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday began hectic parleys with his counterparts from Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam to narrow down differences on finalising the much-awaited Asean-India Free Trade Agreement. However, the Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu said that the 10-member Asean had put the trade talks "on hold" until India came up with a more progressive way forward.
The Indo-Thai free trade agreement is likely to be signed by September. The agreement will initially cover goods and include services and investment at a later stage.
India is vigorously pursuing for a free trade agreement with Gulf countries, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Monday.
The All India Kisan Sabha has expressed its displeasure on the signing of a Free Trade Agreement with the ASEAN nations. In a statement issued by the farmer's body they have criticised the centre for signing the FTA despite serious misgivings of state governments, peasant organisations and experts.Sectors like plantations, fisheries, textiles and light manufacturing goods will be seriously affected by this deal.
The avoidable stresses and strains in ties helped in one way. It showed for the entire region how a matured India handled diplomatic relations, especially with a smaller and suspicious neighbour, with practised dignity and patience, unruffled by provocations in word, deed and action, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
According to Indian officials, both the sides have had "fruitful consultations" regarding elimination of tariffs on 90-95 per cent of goods, but the EU's insistence on including non-trade issues, such as child labour, labour laws and climate change, in the trade pact are coming in the way of concluding an agreement.
India has decided to put the process of bringing down duties on edible oil on the fast track to reach an early agreement with Asean for a Free Trade Agreement.
India is the only country which has a negative list incorporated in a trade pact with Asean.
Recalibration is required as some items of interest to Britain may have to be removed
Despite all official assurances, the path towards a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union (EU) this year remains ambiguous, as both sides are unwilling to relax their stand on the biggest stumbling block - the issue of "data exclusivity".
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has raised India's long-standing concerns about pro-Khalistan extremism in the United Kingdom during his meetings with the country's leaders, stressing that they should be on guard against the misuse of freedom of expression and speech.
With the pressure on for the European Union (EU) and India to come up with a significant announcement at the upcoming EU-India summit on December 10, a flurry of activity surrounding the ongoing negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) is giving momentum to the process.
Bilateral trade was close to $4.2 billion last year, said Canadian Minister of International Trade Peter Van Loan. "Both the Governments have set a target of increasing the mutual bilateral merchandise trade to USD 15 billion in the next five years.
India is the UK's second-largest market by volumes for Scotch, importing the equivalent of 136 million bottles, worth £146.2 million, in 2021.
The proposed India-European Union free trade agreement (FTA), which seeks to liberalise trade in goods and services, could be materialised by this year, EU Ambassador to India Joao Cravinho has said.
The US is open to a Free Trade Agreement with India but wants bilateral economic engagement to increase further, a senior US government official said.
Australia and India are all set to hold the first preliminary round of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations in India by the end of this month, according to Australian High Commissioner to India Peter Varghese.
Negotiations for a trade deal between India and the UK have run into fresh controversy, after the proposals under a leaked chapter of the deal on intellectual property (IP) are believed to put access to affordable, lifesaving generic medicines from India at risk. According to the draft IP chapter put out by an international trade portal bilaterals.org, the UK is seeking continuous extension of patent period and rights through small tweaks in the drug, known as evergreening. This may prevent patents from expiring, impacting cheaper drug availability and its production by Indian generic drug manufacturers.
The details that have been shared include identification, account and financial information, including name, address, country of residence and tax identification number, as well as information concerning the reporting financial institution, account balance and capital income.
India made it clear on Thursday that it will insist on a sizeable negative list of items in the Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN and there will be no compromise on the number of agricultural and textile items in which duty free imports will be banned.
A readout of the meeting reportedly said Lord Johnson "made clear that he was keen to see a bigger Infosys presence in the UK and would be happy to do what he could to facilitate that".
'We crossed Rs 1.7 trillion in three months this financial year.'
'While every year presents new challenges, it also provides opportunities for better growth and performance.'
Countries negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) need to keep in mind eight "myths" which surround these pacts, like they lead to accelerated increase in exports and promote domestic manufacturing, according to a report by think-tank GTRI. The report by Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) claims to dispel these 'myths', including that FTAs weaken the WTO (World Trade Organisation), countries are rushing to do FTAs, and these pacts promote investment and lower prices. It is "erroneously" believed that most world trade happens through the FTA route, but in reality, it is less than 20 per cent, said the report titled 'FTAs: Fabulous, Futile, or Flawed?'.
The rising dependence on discounted crude oil has resulted in India's trade deficit with Russia hitting the second-highest place last year, after China, reveals Department of Commerce data. From April through January 2022-23 (FY23), India's maximum trade deficit was with China, at $71.58 billion. This was followed by Russia, where the deficit expanded sevenfold - from $4.86 billion in April-January of 2021-22 (FY22) to $34.79 billion during the same period in FY23.
In July alone, 2.5 tonnes of gold coins were imported so far from South Korea under zero-duty facility
Vice Chair of AIBC Sheda Nandkeolyar expressed her gratitude over the announcement made by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott in the Parliament that Free Trade Agreement deadline would be brought forward to 2015.
The UK government made its first major commitment to support UN Security Council reforms and India's permanent membership within it as part of a refreshed defence and foreign policy review tabled in Parliament on Monday.
The proposed India-Israel trade pact should be beneficial to both nations and until New Delhi gets a good deal, it would not do an agreement, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said. India and Israel are negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) since May 2010. "With Israel, until we get a good deal, we will not do an FTA. It has to be reciprocally beneficial," the minister said in San Francisco on Tuesday while interacting with the Indian community.
Negotiators from were expected to meet in New Delhi on August 28.
The probe agency is learnt to have taken possession of multiple physical and digital records during a search operation conducted on the premises of the South Korean firm in Delhi and Mumbai this week.
India has received the fourth set of Swiss bank account details of its nationals and organisations as part of an annual automatic information exchange under which Switzerland has shared particulars of nearly 34 lakh financial accounts with 101 countries.
India's trade ties with Israel have only strengthened in the years after 2019. The total value of trade rose to $10.5 billion on a rolling four-quarter basis in June 2023 from $5.5 billion in the same month in 2019, shows a Business Standard analysis of data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). A rolling four-quarter number provides a comparable figure across different time periods.
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