India and the European Union are working with sincerity and commitment to finalise a comprehensive and balanced free trade agreement that will benefit businesses and consumers on both sides, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday.

Addressing the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) here, he said such an agreement cannot be a one-sided arrangement, as every negotiation involves a certain degree of give and take to ensure fairness and balance.

Goyal said, "he has long hours of jostling and fighting" with the EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic on the proposed pact, but "I can tell you, he is a tough negotiator, very difficult to get anything past Maros".

India and the EU are engaged in the 13th round (September 8-12) of negotiations for the agreement here. Sefcovic and the European Commission's agriculture commissioner, Christophe Hansen, are here to review the progress of talks with Goyal. Both sides have targeted to conclude the negotiations by December.