India’s trade ministry starts 2025 with a flurry free trade negotiations

India is looking to advance negotiations for potential trade deals with several countries and trading blocs in the new calendar year. The Terms of Reference (TOR) for a potential free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) are under discussion for finalisation.

Chief Negotiators from both sides held a virtual meeting on January 9, 2025. The EAEU comprises Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Cuba, Moldova, and Uzbekistan have observer status.

The need for an FTA with the trading bloc gains significance given India’s substantial imports of petroleum from Russia, which have been disrupted due to recent American sanctions.

Russia is India’s top trading partner in the bloc. India exported goods and services worth $4.26 billion, while imports stood at $61.43 billion in the financial year ended March 2024.

India is looking to resume negotiations for a potential FTA with the United Kingdom in early February. After 14 rounds that started in January 2022, the trade talks were halted in March 2024 ahead of the elections in both countries.

India is slated to hold the 10th round of FTA negotiations with the European Union (EU) from 10th to 14th March in Brussels, where an investment protection agreement, as well as an agreement on geographical indications (GIs), is being negotiated.

The 9th round of negotiations included discussions on trade issues of goods, services, investment, government procurement, rules of origin, SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) measures and technical trade barriers.

In 2023, India exported goods worth $75.18 billion and services worth $31.13 billion to the EU, and the imports amounted to $63.44 billion. For the review of an existing FTA between India and the ASEAN countries, the next round of talks is scheduled for February 10 in Indonesia.

These are some of the free trade negotiations that are currently underway:

Grouping	No of countries	Member countries	Status
BIMSTEC	7	Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal	FTA, under negotiation
India EU Broad Based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA)	28	India and the EU (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden)	FTA, under negotiation
India Israel FTA	2	India, Israel	FTA, under negotiation
India Peru FTA	2	India, Peru	FTA, under negotiation
India New Zealand FTA	2	India, New Zealand	FTA, under negotiation
India UK FTA	2	India, UK	FTA, Under negotiation