India-EU FTA: 14th round of trade talks to begin on October 6; aim to finalise deal before year-end – The Times of India

India and the European Union (EU) are gearing up for the 14th round of free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations in Brussels on Monday, as both sides aim to smoothen out the differences and finalise the deal by the end of the year.Senior officials from India and the 27-member bloc will hold a five-day round of talks, beginning from October 6. An official said the discussions will aim to resolve outstanding issues to help conclude the negotiations at the earliest.Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal recently expressed confidence that the two sides will sign the agreement soon. He is also expected to meet EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic in South Africa later this month to assess the progress, with December set as the deadline to wrap up the talks, PTI reported. The pact seeks to boost two-way commerce and investments.Last month, Sefcovic and European commission agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen travelled to India to meet Goyal and review developments in the negotiations.The proposed trade pact, revived in June 2022 after an eight-year pause, seeks to boost trade and investment flows between India and the EU. Earlier talks were suspended in 2013 over disagreements on market access.The EU is pressing for steep tariff cuts on automobiles and medical devices, lower taxes on products such as wine, spirits, meat and poultry, and stronger intellectual property protections. For India, the deal could make its exports, including ready-made garments, pharmaceuticals, steel, petroleum products and electrical machinery, more competitive in the European market, according to PTI.Negotiations cover 23 policy areas, including goods and services trade, investment, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, rules of origin, customs and trade facilitation, competition, trade remedies, government procurement, dispute settlement, intellectual property rights, geographical indications and sustainable development.The EU is currently India’s largest trading partner for goods. Bilateral trade reached $136.53 billion in 2024–25, with Indian exports worth $75.85 billion and imports worth $60.68 billion. The bloc accounts for around 17% of India’s total exports, while India makes up 9% of the EU’s global exports.In services, bilateral trade stood at $51.45 billion in 2023.