India and the European Union inched closer towards the long-awaited free trade agreement (FTA), with Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal concluding a two-day visit to Brussels focused on fast-tracking the deal.
Reports say the successful pact is set to deepen ties with one of India’s largest trading partners, but sensitive issues still need careful handling.
In the latest round, Goyal met Maroš Šefčovič, the EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, in Brussels on January 8–9 for high-level talks on the proposed FTA.
Both leaders instructed their negotiating teams to resolve pending issues and “expedite” the agreement, signalling strong political will on both sides.
The ministerial talks followed senior-official meetings between Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal and EU Trade Director-General Sabine Weyand on January 6–7. These discussions reviewed progress across negotiating areas and tried to narrow differences, clearing the way for the political-level push, according to the commerce ministry.
Key areas under discussion
The ministry further noted that both sides found “steady progress” on major chapters like market access for goods, rules of origin and services. The India–EU FTA is said to feature human-intensive services, including IT, professional and R&D-related services, as the country’s strongest interests.
The long-standing friction over EU demands on professional services liberalisation, data protection and intellectual property, and India’s concerns over opening goods markets to sensitive EU products such as automobiles are still to be ironed out.
These underlying issues are why earlier negotiations, launched in 2007 under the Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), stalled for years.
Both sides want a “fair, balanced and ambitious” agreement that fits shared values and a rules-based trading framework, the ministry said. Studies show that such a deal could expand two-way trade, with gains in sectors like services, while also creating adjustment pressures in some manufacturing and agriculture segments.
In continuation of our efforts to secure a mutually beneficial India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), I held high-level talks with the EU Trade and Economic Security Commissioner, Mr. @MarosSefcovic, in Brussels.
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) January 9, 2026
During this dialogue, we deliberated across key areas of the… pic.twitter.com/b1GSQLsmVn
The India–EU FTA could support their broader strategic partnership in an era of weakened WTO rules and rising protectionism. If the FTA goes through, India could get better access to a high-value market, more investment and technology, but the final outcome will depend on how both sides compromise on regulatory and sustainability provisions.
