India, UK agree to conclude free trade talks at earliest

India and the UK on Tuesday agreed to conclude the free trade agreement talks at the earliest. Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday met UK's secretary of state for international trade Kemi Badenoch to review the progress of talks for a bilateral free trade agreement and agreed to conclude it at the earliest.

The meeting was the first major discussion on the proposed FTA after the Rishi Sunak government took office in the UK in October. The two sides had earlier planned to conclude talks by Diwali.

"Discussions were carried out on the India-UK FTA negotiations and the range of bilateral trade and economic relations," the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.


The sixth round of India-UK FTA negotiations is ongoing in New Delhi. The previous round of talks took place in July. Negotiations for the FTA started on January 13 this year.

As per the statement, both ministers reaffirmed their commitment to the FTA negotiations, which would unlock full potential of trade between the two countries by generating jobs and boosting investments and exports.