Parliament Question: Trade agreements and their impact

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3870 ANSWERED ON 27/03/2026 TRADE AGREEMENTS AND THEIR IMPACT 3870. SHRI G.C. CHANDRASHEKHAR Will the Minister of COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY be pleased to state: (a) the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPAs) concluded or under negotiation and sectors covered; (b) the export growth realised in partner markets post-agreement; and (c) the concerns raised by domestic industry and mitigation steps? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA) (a) India has signed 16 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), including Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPAs), with its trade partners. A list of India’s FTAs is placed at Annexure-I. FTAs are complex economic instruments aimed at expanding trade, export competitiveness and deepening economic integration. FTAs provide calibrated market access through tariff elimination at Entry into Force (EIF), phased reductions, and sensitive/exclusion lists across sectors. The details of sectors covered, tariffs structure and salient features of these FTAs may be sourced at https://www.commerce.gov.in/international-trade/. The details and present status of India’s trade agreements under negotiations are mentioned below: (i) India – Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA): The first round of negotiations on India-Australia CECA was held in February, 2023. 11 rounds have been held so far. (ii) India – Sri Lanka Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA): 14 rounds of negotiations have been held. 1(iii) India – Peru FTA: Negotiations commenced in 2017. Till date, 9 rounds have been held. (iv) India-Chile CEPA: Negotiations were launched on 01st April 2025. 4 rounds of negotiations have been held. (v) India – Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) FTA: 01st round of negotiations was held in November, 2025. (vi) India – Israel FTA: First round of negotiations held on 23-26 February, 2026. (vii) India – Philippines PTA: ToRs signed for PTA negotiations. (viii) India – Maldives FTA: ToRs signed for FTA negotiations. (ix) India – Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) FTA: ToRs signed for FTA negotiations. (x) India – Canada CEPA: ToRs signed for CEPA negotiations. (xi) ASEAN – India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA): Review ongoing through AITIGA Joint Committee. 11 rounds held so far. (xii) India – Korea CEPA - Review for upgradation of India-Korea CEPA ongoing with 11 rounds held so far. (b) The export growth realised in partner markets post-agreement is placed at Annexure-II. (c) Government proactively engages with industry bodies and other stakeholders to address their concerns in respect of various sectors. Consultations with stakeholders are a continuous process and are undertaken before, during, and after trade negotiations, including during the implementation phase of FTAs, so as to ensure that the agreements are balanced, inclusive, and aligned with the interests and needs of all domestic stakeholders. Such concerns are duly examined in consultation with the concerned Ministries/Departments and stakeholders. Institutional mechanisms such as Joint Committees and Sub-Committees constituted under the FTAs are also utilized to review implementation issues and address concerns of domestic industry. In addition, appropriate Rules of Origin, trade remedy measures, including safeguard mechanisms, are available under the FTAs to address any adverse impact of imports on domestic industry. FTAs are regularly monitored and reviewed to ensure that India’s trade and economic interests continue to be adequately safeguarded and remain aligned with national priorities. 2Annexure-I India’s Free Trade Agreements Sl. Name of the Agreement Date of Signing of Date of Implementation of the No. the Agreement Agreement 1 India - Sri Lanka FTA 28th December, 1st March, 2000 1998 2 Agreement on SAFTA 4th January, 2004 1st January, 2006 (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri (Tariff concessions implemented Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, from 1st July, 2006) Maldives and Afghanistan) 3 India Nepal Treaty of Trade 27th October, 2009 This Treaty shall be automatically extended for further periods of seven years at a time, unless either of the parties gives to the other a written notice, three months in advance, of its intention to terminate the Treaty. 4 India - Bhutan Agreement 17th January, 1972 Renewed periodically, with on Trade Commerce and mutually agreed modifications. Transit Agreement dated 29th July 2006 was valid for 10 years. With mutual consent, the validity was extended for a period of one year or the period till the proposed new Agreement comes into force. The renewed Agreement has been signed on 12.11.2016 and came into force with effect from 29 July 2017, for a period of 10 years. 5 India - Thailand FTA - Early 9th October, 2003 1st September, 2004 Harvest Scheme (EHS) 6 India - Singapore CECA 29th June, 2005 1st August, 2005 7 India - ASEAN- CECA - 13th August, 2009 Goods Trade in Goods, Services for goods and • 1st January 2010 in respect of India and Investment Agreement November 2014 for and Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand. (Brunei, Cambodia, Services and • 1st June 2010 in respect of India and Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Investment Vietnam. Myanmar, Philippines, • 1st September 2010 in respect of Singapore, Thailand and India and Myanmar. • 1st October 2010 in respect of India Vietnam) and Indonesia. • 1st November 2010 in respect of India and Brunei. 3Sl. Name of the Agreement Date of Signing of Date of Implementation of the No. the Agreement Agreement • 24th January 2011 in respect of India and Laos. • 1st June 2011 in respect of India and the Philippines. • 1st August, 2011 in respect of India and Cambodia. Services and Investment 1st July, 2015 8 India - South Korea CEPA 7th August, 2009 1st January, 2010 9 India - Japan CEPA 16th February, 2011 1st August, 2011 10 India - Malaysia CECA 18th February, 2011 1st July, 2011 11 India - Mauritius 22nd February, 1st April, 2021 Comprehensive Economic 2021 Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) 12 India-UAE CEPA 18th February, 2022 1st May 2022 13 India-Australia Economic 2nd April, 2022 29th December 2022. Cooperation and Trade Agreement (Ind-Aus ECTA) 14 India-European Free Trade 10th March 2024 01st October 2025 Association (EFTA) Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) 15 India - UK Comprehensive 24th July 2025 Under ratification process Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) 16 India – Oman 18th December Under ratification process Comprehensive Economic 2025 Partnership Agreement (CEPA) Note: FTA negotiations with New Zealand and the European Union have been concluded on 22nd December 2025 and 27th January 2026 respectively. Also, India and the United States (U.S.) announced a trade deal on February 02, 2026. A Joint Statement of the same was released on February 07 2026. 4Annexure-II India’s Exports growth with FTA partners (values in USD Million) Exports before year of S. Exports in FY FTA partners implementation of No. 2024-25 FTA 1 Sri Lanka 437.13 4550.78 2 SAARC (SAFTA) 5547.65 26123.42 3 Nepal 1570.15 7385.98 4 Bhutan 99.17 1263.83 5 Thailand 831.68 4812.58 6 Singapore 4000.61 12976.15 7 ASEAN (AITIGA) 19141.53 39002.13 8 South Korea 3421.05 5819.64 9 Japan 5091.24 6249.32 10 Malaysia 3871.17 7316.85 11 Mauritius 422.91 676.49 12 UAE 16679.54 36638.02 13 Australia 8283.13 8581.38 (Source: DGCIS) India - EFTA TEPA signed on 10th March 2024 was implemented with effect from 01st October, 2025. Since TEPA has recently been implemented, the available trade data with EFTA for this period is provisional, which may be seen at https://ftddp.dgciskol.gov.in/dgcis/ ***** 5