Business
India’s Free Trade Deal With Europe To Take Effect From October 1, Says Piyush Goyal
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Goyal said the deal, which was finalised in March 2024, marks another major step in India’s global trade strategy
Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal (Image: PTI/File)
India’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries — Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland — will officially come into effect from 1 October 2025, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal announced on Monday.
Speaking at the valedictory session of the UP International Trade Show, Goyal said the deal, which was finalised in March 2024, marks another major step in India’s global trade strategy.
“Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland), which was finalised in March 2024, will come into effect from October 1, 2025,” he said, referring to the EFTA bloc.
This agreement adds to a growing list of trade pacts signed by India in recent years, including with the UAE, Australia, and the UK. Goyal said India is currently negotiating similar agreements with 27 other countries, including the United States, the European Union and Peru. He also confirmed that terms for a pact with the Eurasian Economic Union have already been finalised.
“Countries around the world, including developed nations, are eager to sign free trade agreements with India,” he said.
The minister also spoke about the transformation of India’s economy since 2014. He noted that foreign exchange reserves have reached USD 700 billion, nearly three times more than what the current government inherited. He predicted that within the next two years, India would become a USD 5 trillion economy, making it the third largest economy in the world.
Highlighting recent economic performance, Goyal said India’s GDP grew 7.8% in the last quarter, while inflation dropped to 2%, the lowest since independence. “In the last ten years under Prime Minister Modi, India has seen the lowest average inflation,” he said.
Reflecting on the state of the economy in 2014, he reminded the audience that India was once labelled as part of the “Fragile Five” economies.
“Earlier, government resources like 2G spectrum, coal mines, iron ore mines, contracts, used to be handed over to relatives, associates, or party members. Modi ji ensured that everything is now given only through transparent auctions,” Goyal added.
(With inputs from ANI)
The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d…Read More
The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d… Read More
September 29, 2025, 19:21 IST
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Jaguar Land Rover has plunged to a heavy loss after booking almost £200 million in costs linked to a major cyber attack which saw the firm shut its factories for more than a month.
The UK’s largest car manufacturer said it has “made strong progress” in recovering its operations at pace since the attack.
JLR stopped production across its UK factories for five weeks from September 1 after being targeted by hackers a day earlier.
All of the group’s manufacturing sites – including factories in Solihull, West Midlands, and Halewood, Merseyside – restarted operations last month.
However, it saw revenues plummet by more than £1 billion, around 24%, to £4.9 billion for the quarter to September.
It also swung to an underlying loss of £485 million over the quarter, sliding from a profit before tax and exceptional items of nearly £400 million over the same period in 2024.
In the update, it booked £196 million of extra costs linked to the cyber attack and £42 million related to voluntary redundancies.
The company said its performance was also impacted by US tariffs and a planned wind down in the production of previous Jaguar models.
The biggest shareholders in hotel chain PPHE have said they are in talks over options for the business, including selling stakes.
The company, which runs Park Plaza hotels in Europe, saw shares jump in early trading on Friday as a result.
It followed reports from Bloomberg that the process could lead to the business being taken private.
Founder Eli Papouchado and PPHE president Boris Ivesha confirmed they are planning “to hold a small handful of meetings with financial investors” over potential options for the business.
The shareholders, who own around 44% of the business, said options include investors “contributing growth capital to PPHE” and the “potential partial monetisation of their stakes”.
In a statement, they added: “The shareholders are not in discussions with any parties and are not in receipt of any offer for their collective stake in PPHE.
“There can be no certainty that any such offer will be made.”
Israeli hotelier Mr Papouchado’s family trust owns around 33% of the company.
The company, which has a property estate valued at £2.2 billion at the end of last year, also runs sites under the Art’otel brand, including London locations in Battersea Power Station and Hoxton.
Shares in the business rose by 10.5% to 1,658p on Friday morning, giving the company a market valuation of around £695 million.
Business
Edible Oil Imports Rise 22 percent To Rs 1.61 Lakh Crore In 2024-25 Marketing Year; Volume Remains Steady: SEA
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India imported 16 million tonnes of edible oils worth nearly Rs 1.61 lakh crore during the 2024-25 marketing year ending in October to meet domestic demand. all
News18
India imported 16 million tonnes of edible oils worth nearly Rs 1.61 lakh crore during the 2024-25 marketing year ending in October to meet domestic demand, according to the industry group SEA. In the 2023-24 marketing year (November-October), India’s edible oil imports were 15.96 million tonnes valued at Rs 1.32 lakh crore, as per data from the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) released on Thursday.
The value of edible oil imports increased by 22 percent due to higher global prices. India imports palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, while soybean oil comes from Argentina and Brazil. “To meet the gap between supply and demand, India has been importing edible oils since the 1990s. Initially, the import volume was very low. However, in the last 20 years (2004-05 to 2024-25), the import volume has grown by 2.2 times, while the cost has increased nearly 15 times,” the association said.
In 2024-25, India spent nearly Rs 1.61 lakh crore (USD 18.3 billion) to import 160 lakh tonnes (16 million tonnes) of edible oils. In terms of volume, edible oil imports were 16.47 million tonnes in 2022-23, 14.03 million tonnes in 2021-22, and 13.13 million tonnes in 2020-21. During the 2024-25 oil marketing year, SEA data showed that 1,737,228 tonnes of refined oils were imported compared to 1,931,254 tonnes in the previous year.
However, imports of crude edible oils increased to 14,273,520 tonnes from 14,031,317 tonnes in the 2023-24 marketing year. Soybean oil imports set a new record of 5.47 million tonnes in 2024-25, surpassing the previous high of 4.23 million tonnes in 2015-16. Palm oil imports dropped sharply to 7.58 million tonnes from 9 million tonnes, according to the association’s data.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d…Read More
The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d… Read More
November 14, 2025, 14:13 IST
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