A high-profile European Union delegation will land in New Delhi this week with the aim of fastening the process of inking India-EU Free Trade Agreement(FTA). As per the sources, European Commissioner for Trade Moros Sefcovic and Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen will arrive in New Delhi to hold talks with their Indian counterparts. The two European Union Commissioners hold the rank of cabinet ministers and is said to have negotiations with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Agricultural Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The commissioners will also be accompanied by a 30-member negotiating team from Brussels.
The swift and rigorous action by the European Union comes amidst growing tariff tussle with the US President Donald Trump and associated geo-economic volatilities. India, EU and many economies across the globe are looking for alternative trade partners in order to stabilize the domestic and international export import regime and all also to efficiently absorb the trade shocks emanated from the Trump administration.
In February 2025, a high-profile European Union college of Commissioners delegation led by the President of the European Commission Ms. Ursula von der Leyen had visited India. During the visit Prime Minister Narendra Modi and EU Commissioner Ms. Ursula von der Leyen agreed to further accelerate and strengthen India-EU trade relations, thereby de-risk supply chains.
Leaders’ had acknowledged to work towards a balanced, ambitious and mutually beneficial FTA by enhancing market access and removing trade barriers. They also aimed to conclude the FTA by the end of the year. In this direction, this week’s visit by the European Union delegation to India gains paramount importance as they aim to seal an FTA as early as possible.
To give further push to the India-EU FTA process, in the previous week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the European Commission held a telephonic conversation and agreed for the early conclusion of the India-EU FTA for the benefit of both the economies.
Had a very good conversation with European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Reaffirmed our shared commitment for an early conclusion of the India-EU FTA and implementation of the IMEEC corridor. Exchanged views on issues of…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 4, 2025
India-EU Free Trade Agreement
India and the European Union bilateral goods trade stands at USD 135 billion as of 2024. Among them, Indian exports to EU accounts for USD 76 billion and EU exports to India stands at USD 59 billion, thus India has a surplus and favourable trade position with Europe, that accounts for 12.2% of India’s total trade.
EU and India are negotiating a Free Trade Agreement for 15 years now, since 2007 and have completed 12 rounds of negotiations. In the wake of Trump tariffs and other economic bottlenecks, 4 rounds of negotiations have been completed within last one year. There are approximately 27 chapters in the India-EU FTA and among them talks on 11 chapters have been successfully and satisfactorily completed. This includes, Intellectual Property Rights(IPR), mutual administrative assistance, smooth regulations and transparency, digital trade, small and medium enterprises etc.
However, there are significant hiccups with respect to agricultural sector, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, automobiles etc. In the negotiations scheduled for this week it is anticipated that agriculture and related issues could consume limelight.
