‘India-UK FTA offers tangible benefits; hope for $100 bn trade’

PTI

New Delhi

Hours after the operationalisation of the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a senior British official said the landmark deal will deliver tangible business outcomes for both partner countries.

Harjinder Kang, the UK’s Trade Commissioner for South Asia and British Deputy High Commissioner to Western India, also hoped that the agreement would eventually lead to a jump in bilateral trade to $100 billion from the present $60 billion. “As of midnight, we are now able to send goods and services between the two countries on the new trading terms that we’ve agreed,” he told PTI videos in an interaction on Wednesday.

Nearly 99% of the goods and services exported by India to the UK, and 90% of the goods and services imported by the country, will now attract lower or zero tariffs, he said, stressing that the deal will benefit consumers in both countries by lowering costs.

Goods worth $140 mn exported on first day CETA coming into effect

India has exported goods worth $140 million to the UK 

at zero duty under the CETA, which became operational on Wednesday, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said. He said that the agreement is a pact between two major and complementary economies. Terming the CETA as one of the “most aspirational” trade agreements by India to date, Agarwal said that over 800 technical sessions were held over 14 formal rounds of negotiations to conclude the pact. “It is a win-win agreement between the two countries which will have a shadow across economic relations,” Agrawal said while addressing industry and exporters on the day of operationalisation of the pact.

Modi says deal will deepen economic ties and boost exports 

PM Modi described the operationalisation of the agreements as "a significant moment in the India-UK partnership." "With the coming into force of the CETA and the Agreement on Social Security, our economic linkages are going to get even deeper. Together, these agreements translate our shared ambition into tangible opportunities for our people," Modi said in a post on X.