India’s new free trade architecture

The focus of FTAs has shifted from tariffs alone to securing deals that will serve its own development purposes through a process of give and take

- SHREYA NANDI

Free-trade agreements (FTAs) signed by India in the post-pandemic era reflect a shift from tariff-focused deals to an alignment with a changing world order.

‘These agreements have weaved in new elements such as binding investment commitments from the FTA partners, provision for social security arrangements and progressively opening up the government procurement market to foreign firms.

In a first, New Delhi also agreed to lower tariffs and grant market access for automobiles in the FTA with the UK. This is a sector that has been long considered “sensitive” due to its potential to impact jobs in India. Similarly, while India continues to fiercely protect another sensitive sector — agriculture — it has, in some recent trade agreements, offered quota-based market access to fruit and dry fruit — a step it had never attempted in the past.

Broad architecture

Government officials said the recently concluded trade agreements and the ongoing negotiations for FTAs indicate a recalibration in the way India is engaging with the world. These trade deals aim not only to deepen economic ties with India's strategic allies, but also to position the country in shaping modern trade frameworks and integrate them into global supply chains.

India has been on an FTA-signing spree of late. Since 2021, it has signed seven trade agreements, three of which — with the UK, Oman and New Zealand — were finalised in 2025 alone. A comprehensive trade deal with Mauritius was signed in 2021, followed by pacts with the UAE and Australia a year later. A deal with the four-nation European Free Trade Association (EFTA) was signed in 2024. Currently, India is in active negotiations with the US, EU, Canada, Mexico, Israel, Eurasian Economic Union, Peru and Chile.