"Historic": Industry experts hail India-UK Free Trade Agreement

New Delhi [India], July 25 (ANI): The India-UK Free Trade Agreement has provided wider access to goods and services of both countries with industry leaders viewing the "historic" deals as opening up opportunities to push more trade in the United Kingdom.
Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies Director General Anant S Iyer said the FTA will strengthen the economic ties between the two countries across a lot of sectors.
"We believe that this FTA is pretty historic between India and the UK, because it will strengthen our economic ties between the two countries across a lot of sectors," Iyer told ANI.
India is set to benefit from the elimination or reduction of tariffs on about 99 per cent of its exports to the UK post the FTA.
"About 99 lines of business would benefit, especially very high labour intensive ones," he said.
He has also requested the government to have a minimum import price on alco-beverages, or have some mechanism whereby there is anti-dumping clauses to curb the entry of low-priced items into India.
"The second thing we are saying is to look at the country of origin. So be very clear that the rules of origin are followed so that you cannot get scotch diverted from some other country or wines coming from using loopholes," Iyer said.
British whisky producers will benefit from tariffs slashed in half, reduced immediately from 150 per cent to 75 per cent and then dropped even further to 40 per cent over the next ten years - giving the UK an advantage over international competitors in reaching the Indian market, an UK statement noted yesterday.
Pankaj Chadha, Chairman, EEPC India, talking to ANI, affirmed optimism that engineering goods exports are poised to double with this FTA.
"We see that our exports will rise more than 100 percent. We are currently at 4.2 billion dollars of engineering exports. We hope that this will rise to 7.5 to 8 billion dollars in two to three years. It is a good deal, beneficial for both sides, and I'm complimenting the government for it," Chadha added.
Chadha also said that this FTA indicates other countries that India only signs win-win deals.
"We want to do it. We are ready to it. But it has to be win-win for both sides. There cannot be any one-sided deal. And we have drawn our red lines," he noted.
Archana Jahagirdar, Founder and Managing Partner of Rukam Capital said the India-UK Free Trade Agreement and the unveiling of the Vision 2035 document represent an essential calibration for entrepreneurs and investors across both economies.
"By unlocking near-zero tariffs for 99 per cent of Indian exports and significantly improving market access, these frameworks stimulate innovation, enable cross-border capital flows, and establish a conducive platform for the next-gen startups. The provisions on digital trade, skills mobility, technology, and critical minerals pave the way for VC-backed founders to build global-first companies from both countries. It will further enable the ecosystem to collaborate and co-innovate in emerging sectors, and seize new market opportunities in climate tech, AI, sustainability, and beyond," added Archana Jahagirdar.
Ajay Sahai, DG and CEO, FIEO, said, "This is a historic occasion...This is probably one of the biggest FTAs signed by India recently. This is important because it not only helps push traditional exports, which may be textile, apparel, footwear, gems and jewelry, toys, sports goods, marine products, food processing sector, but also some of the new sectors of export including organic chemicals, automobile, machinery and other engineering goods."
"We are also seeing that India is exporting a lot services to the UK also. In fact, UK is one of the countries where services export is much more than the goods exports of India," added Sahai.
Jyoti Vij, DG, FICCI, said it's a significant way forward between the two countries.
"It's a path-breaking agreement that has been entered into by the two countries. There are going to be significant opportunities for various sectors, most particularly for the employment-intensive sectors where the market access will increase... There are very positive factors, like the Social Security Agreement, which eases the movement of people. Some of the visa restrictions have been removed. That will help in increasing business opportunities... When you have more export opportunities, you invest more in that sector. When you invest more, you employ more... That way, your market gets expanded, more export opportunities are always good for the economy's growth....," she noted.
India's average tariff on UK products will drop from 15 per cent to 3 per cent under India-UK FTA.
Both nations desire to increase their trade to USD 120 billion by 2030.
On May 6, Prime Minister Modi and PM Starmer had announced the successful conclusion of a mutually beneficial India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA). This forward-looking Agreement is aligned with India's vision of Viksit Bharat 2047 and complements the growth aspirations of both countries.
The much-awaited landmark India-UK Free Trade Agreement was signed on Thursday, in the presence of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Keir Starmer, as PM Modi was on a two-day visit to the UK. (ANI)