India speeds up free trade talks with Western nations amid US tariff threats

Delhi seeks deals with Britain, EU as access to major markets is set to get complicated

- Nirmala Ganapathy

India is attempting to speed up the pace of free trade agreements with the West to improve market access and boost exports, a move fuelled by US President Donald Trump's decision to implement reciprocal tariffs on April 2.

India and Britain have resumed free trade agreement (FTA) talks after an eight-month hiatus.

The Indian government and the European Union have agreed to conclude long-pending FTA negotiations by the end of 2025.

The country is also negotiating with the US a bilateral trade agreement — announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington in February.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is in the US this week to discuss with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick the contours of a bilateral trade agreement, and get a head start on tackling the impending reciprocal tariffs.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held talks on March 5 with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

India is one of the world's fastest-growing economies but it needs to increase exports while attracting investments in manufacturing, to integrate better with global value chains.

"Much will depend on concessions that are agreed on in India's FTA with the US. That might be a template for reaching the finishing line with other countries," Dr Amitendu Palit, an economist specialising in international trade and investment policies, told The Straits Times.

"The urgency of expediting these FTAs is high given that access to major markets of the world will get complicated due to growth in a variety of tariffs.

"Securing bilateral FTAs will help in retaining preferential access for these markets and therefore boost exports.

"This applies for both Indian manufactured products and services," said the senior research fellow and research lead (trade and economics) at the NUS Institute of South Asian Studies.