Loading…
A PIB Backgrounder reports that India's trade-agreement strategy has moved from signing new pacts to using the market access they created, measured by export growth to partner markets, rising preferential Certificate of Origin issuance and a wider range of products shipped.
India's combined merchandise and services exports reached a record US$ 863.1 billion in FY 2025-26, of which merchandise was US$ 441.8 billion and services US$ 421.3 billion; April-June 2026 exports were estimated at US$ 232.73 billion, up 11.37 percent year on year.
The UAE was India's largest single FTA export destination in FY 2025-26 at US$ 37,359.11 million, followed among FTA groupings by ASEAN at US$ 38,416.33 million and SAFTA at US$ 25,774.68 million.
Newer agreements are already generating origin certification: 7,885 preferential Certificates of Origin under the India-EFTA TEPA since October 2025 and 783 under the India-Oman CEPA since June 2026, helped by e-CoO 2.0, self-declaration of origin and the Trade Connect platform.
Around ten further agreements are under discussion, including negotiations with the Eurasian Economic Union, Peru, Chile, Israel, Canada and the Maldives, while the India-Korea CEPA and India-Sri Lanka ETCA are being upgraded.
Deep goods-and-services access to India's largest Gulf trading partner; it was India's first full free trade agreement in a decade.
Key: In force 1 May 2022, negotiated in a record 88 days. Covers 97 percent of UAE tariff lines accounting for 99 percent of Indian exports, and about 111 services sub-sectors across 11 broad areas. Bilateral trade crossed US$ 100.06 billion in FY 2024-25, up 19.6 percent, and the two sides have set a US$ 200 billion target by 2032.
An early-harvest style agreement with a developed economy, since taken forward towards a fuller CECA.
Key: In force 29 December 2022 — India's first trade agreement with a developed economy in more than a decade. Australia gave immediate zero-duty access on 98.3 percent of its tariff lines, and from 2026 all Indian exports enter duty-free. Commitments cover about 135 services sub-sectors with MFN treatment in 120. India's exports rose from US$ 4 billion in FY 2020-21 to US$ 7.28 billion in FY 2025-26.
Market access to the four EFTA states together with a binding investment commitment — the first time India secured one in a trade agreement.
Key: Signed 10 March 2024, in force 1 October 2025 with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Carries a commitment of US$ 100 billion of investment in India over 15 years and one million direct jobs. Covers 92.2 percent of tariff lines representing 99.6 percent of India's exports; service access in 128 sub-sectors in Switzerland, 114 in Norway, 110 in Iceland and 107 in Liechtenstein, with mutual recognition agreements in nursing, chartered accountancy and architecture; origin may be established by self-declaration.
Duty-free access to a large developed market plus mobility and social-security relief for professionals.
Key: Signed in London on 24 July 2025 and in force from 15 July 2026 along with the Double Contribution Convention, which prevents dual social-security payments and is estimated to save over ₹4,000 crore. Nearly 99 percent of Indian exports can enter the UK duty-free. Origin may be shown by self-declaration or importer's knowledge, and origin documentation is waived for consignments below £1,000, which helps e-commerce and small exporters.
Second Gulf CEPA, extending the UAE template to Oman.
Key: Signed 18 December 2025 and in force from 1 June 2026; concessions cover 98 percent of Oman's tariff lines. Tariff-line coverage of Indian exports rose from 2,879 in May 2026 to 3,371 in June 2026, and 783 preferential Certificates of Origin were issued in the early weeks.
India's first trade agreement with a country in Africa, and a gateway arrangement for the African market.
Key: Signed 22 February 2021 and in force from 1 April 2021. Preferential access covers 310 Indian product lines and about 115 services sub-sectors across 11 broad areas, including yoga services. Tariff lines actually exported rose 20.9 percent, from 3,593 in 2021-22 to 4,345 in 2025-26 — the sharpest product diversification among India's recent partners.
Duty-free goods access plus a dedicated professional mobility pathway; signed but not yet in force.
Key: Negotiations launched 16 March 2025, concluded 22 December 2025 and the agreement signed 27 April 2026. It provides duty-free access for 100 percent of Indian exports from entry into force, commitments across 118 services sectors with MFN treatment in 139, and a pathway for up to 5,000 skilled Indians to stay up to three years in fields such as IT, engineering, healthcare, education, construction, AYUSH, yoga, culinary arts and music.
India's largest trade agreement by market size; negotiations concluded but implementation pending ratification.
Key: Negotiations were concluded on 27 January 2026 after almost two decades of on-and-off talks. It promises preferential treatment across 97 percent of EU tariff lines covering about 99.5 percent of bilateral trade value, commitments in 144 services sub-sectors, easier movement of business visitors and intra-corporate transferees, and a five-year framework for Social Security Agreements along with student mobility and post-study work provisions.
Tariff liberalisation with the ten ASEAN economies, India's largest FTA grouping by exports.
Key: Signed 13 August 2009 and in force from 1 January 2010; India is currently pressing for a review of the agreement, whose terms are widely seen as having favoured ASEAN exporters.
Regional tariff liberalisation among the SAARC members.
Key: Signed at the 12th SAARC Summit in Islamabad on 6 January 2004 and in force from 1 January 2006; India's exports to SAFTA partners were US$ 25,774.68 million in FY 2025-26.
A trade agreement lowers duties only for goods that genuinely originate in the partner country, otherwise anyone could route Chinese goods through an FTA partner and claim the concession. Rules of origin set the test — wholly obtained in the country, or transformed enough there, usually measured by a change in tariff heading or a minimum share of local value addition. A preferential Certificate of Origin is the document certifying that the goods pass that test, and without it the importer pays the normal duty even though an FTA exists. This is why 'utilisation' is a separate problem from 'market access': India's older agreements were often under-used because exporters, especially small ones, found origin compliance costly. The newer pacts attack that directly — self-declaration of origin under TEPA and the UK CETA, importer's knowledge and a waiver below £1,000 for the UK, one certificate covering several products under the Australia ECTA, and end-to-end digital issuance through e-CoO 2.0 with Aadhaar-based e-signatures and QR-code verification.
Simple Analogy: An FTA is a discount card; the Certificate of Origin is the identity proof at the counter. Without the proof, the card does not work, however valid it is.
| Type | What it covers | India's examples |
|---|---|---|
| Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) | Tariff concessions on an agreed positive list of products only; it does not cover substantially all trade | India-MERCOSUR PTA, India-Afghanistan PTA |
| Free Trade Agreement (FTA) | Tariffs eliminated on substantially all bilateral trade, worked through a negative list of exclusions; each side keeps its own tariffs against non-members | India-Sri Lanka FTA, AITIGA (goods), India-UK CETA, India-New Zealand FTA |
| CECA / CEPA | Broader than a goods FTA — services, investment, government procurement, intellectual property, competition and dispute settlement in one package | India-UAE CEPA, India-Oman CEPA, India-Korea CEPA, India-Mauritius CECPA |
| Customs union | Zero duty among members plus a common external tariff against the rest of the world | India is not a member of any customs union |
| Common market | A customs union plus free movement of labour and capital and harmonised standards | The European Union's internal market |
Negotiates India's trade agreements, frames trade policy and publishes the export data cited in this Backgrounder.
Attached office of the Department of Commerce that formulates and implements the Foreign Trade Policy, issues Importer-Exporter Codes and has made electronic issuance of Certificates of Origin mandatory through the notified e-platform.
The four-member bloc India signed TEPA with; it is separate from the European Union.
Sets the multilateral rules within which regional trade agreements operate, including the Most-Favoured-Nation obligation from which FTAs are an exception.
Most-Favoured-Nation treatment means treating all trading partners equally; FTAs are the permitted carve-out, which is why every agreement's MFN commitments in services are counted separately from its tariff schedule.
The UAE CEPA and Oman CEPA are the economic face of India's West Asia policy, alongside energy imports, remittances and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor.
The labour-intensive sectors named as FTA gainers — textiles, leather, marine, gems and jewellery, handicrafts — are MSME-dominated, so origin-compliance simplification is effectively MSME policy.
The UK Double Contribution Convention and the EU's Social Security Agreement framework matter to Indian professionals abroad and connect trade policy to the diaspora and to Ministry of External Affairs work.
e-CoO 2.0 uses Aadhaar-based electronic signatures and QR-code verification, an example of India's DPI stack being applied to trade facilitation.
GS Paper 2 > International Relations > Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India; GS Paper 3 > Indian Economy > External sector and trade
General Awareness > International trade agreements, export data and institutions
General Awareness > Economy > Trade agreements and organisations
General Awareness > Current events of national importance
When was the Duty-Free Tariff Preference (DFTP) Scheme for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) announced by India?
Answer: 2008
FTAs appear almost every year in UPSC Prelims through agreement-partner matching and in Mains through external-sector questions; banking exams test the export figures and the newest agreement dates.
Criteria deciding whether goods count as originating in a partner country and so qualify for FTA tariff concessions, usually a change in tariff heading or a minimum local value addition.
Document certifying that goods meet an agreement's rules of origin, without which the importer pays normal rather than preferential duty.
The non-discrimination principle under which a country treats all its trading partners equally; FTAs are a permitted exception to it.
A single product code in a country's customs tariff; coverage of tariff lines is how the breadth of an agreement, and of actual exports under it, is measured.
The India-UK agreement, effective 15 July 2026, that stops posted workers and their employers from paying social security contributions in both countries; estimated savings exceed ₹4,000 crore.
Department of Commerce platform helping exporters, including MSMEs, identify FTA benefits, with a Tariff Explorer giving tariff schedules across markets.