Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal has said that a free trade agreement with the European Union (EU) will take longer as negotiations with 27-country bloc will be prolonged, and active negotiations for the free trade agreements (FTA) are ongoing with two-three countries and the EU, according to a PTI report. The minister was speaking at the Technotex event organized by the industry lobby Ficci.

India and EU had launched talks for having a wide-ranging FTA, officially called broad-based BTIA, long ago in 2007. As per reports, India’s bilateral trade with the European Union amounted to over $116 billion in 2021-22.

“There will soon be some ‘good news’, the pact with the EU may take longer. The EU will take a longer time, because there are 27 countries which have to come on the same page,” the minister said in a statement.

India’s ministry of commerce and industry data in June 2022 had reportedly revealed that the US has become India’s largest trading partner, surpassing China with bilateral trade reaching $119.42 billion. India is already an important trade and investment partner for the EU and could hold significant further potential. As per reports, currently EU is India’s third largest trading partner, accounting for $88 billion worth of trade in goods in 2021 or 10.8% of total Indian trade, after the USA (11.6%) and China (11.4%), whereas, India is the EU’s 10^th largest trading partner, accounting for 2.1% of EU total trade in goods in 2021. Also, the EU is the second-largest destination for Indian exports (14.9% of the total) after the USA (18.1%), while China only ranks fourth (5.8%).

Last year, India signed FTAs with Australia and the United Arab Emirates. Reports had suggested that the country is in talks with other countries including the United Kingdom, Israel and Canada.

Piyush Goyal said the government is mulling to come out with a production linked incentive scheme for the finished goods sector, but did not elaborate on the same, as per the report.