India-UK trade deal to be inked today

Major fillip

- MUKESH JAGOTA

INDIA AND THE UK will sign a free trade agreement (FTA)—officially called Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)—on Thursday to give a major fillip to their bilateral trade at a time when the world reels under the trade shocks emanating from the US.

The agreement will be signed by commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal and UK's secretary of state for business and trade Jonathan Reynolds in the presence of prime minister Narendra Modi and UK premier Keir Starmer. Both sides started negotiations in January 2022 and on May 6 announced the conclusion of the pact.

The agreement will allow 99% of the Indian exports to enter the UK duty-free and cover almost 100% of the trade in value terms. For the UK, India will reduce or eliminate duties on 90% of the tariff lines that account for 92% of the imports.