INDIA-EU BROAD-BASED TRADE AND INVESTMENT AGREEMENT (BTIA)

India and the European Union (EU) are keen to encourage a model of growth with equity, which is socially inclusive and broad-based. Trade and investment continue to be the cornerstone of their multidimensional relationship. Both have a shared belief in the rules-based bilateral and multilateral trading systems and convinced that deepening bilateral trade relations should support, rather than undermine, the multilateral route. Even though bilateral trade and investment have risen dramatically, there are reasons to conclude that current levels are still below potential. Against this backdrop, attempts have been made to revive the India-EU Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), negotiations that began in 2007 but stalled since 2013 due to divergence of views on crucial issues. If successfully concluded, BTIA has the potential to bring real substance to the India-EU Strategic Partnership.

- DR. SAKTI PRASAD SRICHANDAN

India-EU trade relations are backed by the Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development signed in December 1993, and the EU-India Strategic Partnership launched in 2004 (European Commission 2004). Annual Summits further strengthen it. An improved agreement with India is seen as a vital component of the EU’s Global Strategy for enhancing EU companies’ global competitiveness (European Commission 2016).

According to the latest Eurostat report, the EU is India’s third-largest trading partner by far, accounting for 11.1 percent of India’s total external trade below China (12 percent) and the USA (11.7 percent). At the same time, India is the EU’s tenth largest trading partner, with 1.8 percent of total trade in 2020. Since the 1st India-EU Summit in 2000, bilateral trade in goods has increased from €25.6 billion in 2000 to €77.77 billion in 2019, and then declined to €65.17 billion in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic (Eurostat 2021).