India, EU well on track for FTA deal, says Goyal

India and the European Union are well on track to meet their year-end deadline for concluding free trade agreement negotiations, with both sides expressing confidence about the partnership's mutual benefits, senior officials said on Friday.

- Rajeev Jayaswal

Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal said India would benefit from Europe's “technology and innovation”, while the EU would gain from India’s “growth story, scale, and resilience” as the 13th round of FTA talks continued in New Delhi.

“Both India and the EU are set to benefit immensely from the free trade agreement we are striving to achieve,” Goyal told the 65th annual session of the Automotive Components Manufacturers Association (ACMA), sharing the dais with EU commissioner for trade and economic security Maro8 Seféovic.

The EU delegation, led by Seféovié and agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen, is visiting New Delhi as negotiators from both sides work intensively in the Indian capital. On Thursday, Goyal had posted on X after hosting a dinner for the delegation: “As the India-EU FTA negotiations continue, we reiterated our shared commitment towards its early conclusion.”