India, EU conclude talks for ‘mother of all deals’, set to be announced on Tuesday

India and the European Union have concluded negotiations on their long-pending free trade agreement, with the deal set to be formally announced on Tuesday, India’s trade secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Monday.

The formal signing of the India-EU agreement will take place after legal scrubbing of the text, a standard process to ensure consistency and compliance before the pact is inked, Agrawal said, as reported by Reuters.

On Sunday, both sides had signalled that negotiations were nearing completion.


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EU, a 'vital & strategic partner' to India

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said India and the EU were committed to a mutually beneficial and ambitious free trade agreement aimed at boosting prosperity for businesses and people on both sides.

“Pleased to agree that sustained & constructive engagement between us & our teams over the past year has brought us closer to a fruitful outcome,” Goyal said in a post on X, replying to EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic.

“The European Union remains a vital economic & strategic partner for India,” he added.

Sefcovic, who is visiting India with a delegation of EU officials, said the engagement with India had been unusually intensive.

“I’m confident to say we’re nearing the conclusion of our FTA negotiations. The cumulation of an intense past year likely my most frequent trade engagement reflecting its importance,” he said in a post on X, noting that this was his tenth in-person meeting with Goyal.

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'Mother of all trade deals'

The India-EU trade pact has been under negotiation for nearly 18 years, making it one of India’s longest-running trade discussions. Goyal has earlier described the proposed agreement as the “mother of all deals” signed by India.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in India on January 24 for a four-day visit, and will hold summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with European Council President Antonio Costa on January 27.

The European Union remains India’s largest trading partner in goods, with bilateral trade estimated at around $136 billion in 2024-25, PTI reported. While the closure of negotiations will be announced this week, the agreement will come into force only after legal vetting and formal signing on a mutually agreed date. The pact will also require approval from the European Parliament, while in India it will need clearance from the Union Cabinet.

Analysts expect the agreement to expand trade without posing major risks to domestic industry.

Think tank Global Trade Research Initiative said the India-EU economic relationship is marked by structural complementarity rather than rivalry.

“The two are not rivals but partners operating on different rungs of the value chain,” GTRI founder Ajay Srivastava told news agency PTI, adding that this dynamic is likely to lower costs and expand trade rather than threaten Indian industry.