The European Union and India are intensely engaged to meet the December deadline for signing the India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to coincide with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s expected Brussels visit as the European Commission proposed a “fast-track procedure” to its Council for expeditious approval, people in the know said.
EU, India want to sign deal around Dec 17 or 18
India’s main exports to the EU include machinery and appliances, chemicals, textiles, metals and petroleum products. The EU’s exports to India are largely dominated by industrial products, including machinery and appliances, transport equipment and chemical products. The conclusion of the negotiations for the FTA was announced on 27 January 2026, during the India-EU summit in New Delhi, according to a research document of the EU parliament dated September 20. “After the announcement of the conclusion of negotiations in January 2026, EU Council President António Costa and Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen met with India’s Prime Minister Modi on the sidelines of the G7 in Evian (France) on 17 June 2026. The[y] expressed the will to sign the FTA by the end of 2026, to accelerate work on an investment agreement and to step up security and defence cooperation,” it said. The European parliament supported negotiations with India for an FTA, an investment protection agreement (IPA) and an agreement on GI, namely through a resolution on EU-India future trade and investment cooperation adopted in July 2022, it said. The deal is expected to be operational by early 2027. Their bilateral trade in goods amounted to EUR 118 billion in 2025. Bilateral trade in services amounted to EUR 67 billion in 2025, with EU exports amounting to EUR 29.2 billion and imports amounting to EUR 37.8 billion. In 2024, the EU’s foreign direct investment stock in India amounted to EUR 132.8 billion, while India’s FDI stock in the EU was EUR 13.7 billion.
In a social media post on Saturday, Goyal said that he “emphasised the transformative potential of the India-EU Free Trade Agreement in expanding market access, strengthening supply chains, and creating new avenues for trade and investment,” during his visit. “This comprehensive agreement, celebrated as ‘the mother of all deals’, will create the world’s biggest free trade zone: it covers one quarter of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s GDP,” it said. India is the bloc’s ninth largest trading partner for goods globally and the sixth for trade in services, according to the EC.
