FTA 'POSSIBLE' BEFORE INDIA GENERAL ELECTIONS. SAYS U.K. TRADE MINISTER

India and the UK have been negotiating an FTA since January 2022 to significantly enhance the GBP 36 billion bilateral trading partnership. The 13th round of talks concluded on December 15 last year, with both sides hopeful that the ongoing fourteenth round will end in an agreement

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A trade deal being negotiated with India is "possible" to be concluded before a general election in the country, but Britain does not want to use that as a deadline, UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch has said.

The minister in charge of signing off on the free trade agreement (FTA), now in its 14th round of negotiations, pointed to India's "protectionist economy" in comparison with the UK's liberalised regime as one of the factors behind the longdrawn discussions.

Badenoch, who was speaking during a Global Trade conference at the think tank Chatham House on Thursday, stressed that she wanted to ensure a "commercially meaningful" pact as opposed to just a pre-election picture opportunity.

"India is still very protectionist, where we are very, very liberalised," claimed Badenoch.