India’s FTA exports surge, shipments to Singapore and Sri Lanka more than double
India's exports to key Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partner countries grew strongly in the first quarter of FY27 (April-June 2026).
Exports to Singapore rose 101.2% year-on-year to USD 6.52 billion, while shipments to Sri Lanka grew 123.8% to USD 2.35 billion.
Exports to the ASEAN region as a whole grew 61.6% to USD 14.61 billion, with Malaysia and Australia also recording substantial increases.
Exports to the United Kingdom rose 11.1% to USD 3.69 billion, aided by the operationalisation of the India-UK trade agreement during the quarter.
Overall, India recorded broad-based export growth of USD 129.32 billion to its FTA partner countries in Q1 FY27.
Types of Trade Agreements — FTA, PTA, CEPA, and CETA
India's export growth spans multiple categories of trade agreements, making the precise legal distinctions between agreement types a recurring UPSC testing point.
Key Details
- Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA): partners reduce tariffs on a limited, negotiated list of goods (not necessarily reciprocal in scope).
- Free Trade Agreement (FTA): most tariffs and quantitative restrictions on substantially all trade in goods between partners are eliminated or significantly reduced.
- Comprehensive Economic Cooperation/Partnership Agreement (CECA/CEPA): goes beyond goods to cover services, investment, intellectual property, and other economic cooperation areas (e.g., India-Singapore CECA, India-UAE CEPA).
- Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA): India's most recent nomenclature for deep-integration agreements covering goods, services, investment, and regulatory cooperation (e.g., India-UK CETA, India-Australia ECTA/CETA track).
- India has signed 17 trade agreements with countries/blocs to date, of which the large majority are currently operational, spanning ASEAN, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, UAE, Australia, Mauritius, EFTA, and now the UK.
The reported export surge spans an FTA (India-Sri Lanka), a CECA (India-Singapore), a regional FTA (ASEAN-India), and a newly operational CETA (India-UK) — illustrating how India's trade architecture has diversified across agreement types over two decades.
India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)
The UK's inclusion in this quarter's export growth is directly tied to the operationalisation of India's newest major bilateral trade agreement.
Key Details
- The India-UK CETA was signed on July 24, 2025, in London, and entered into force on July 15, 2026, alongside a companion Double Contribution Convention (social security agreement) benefiting Indian professionals working in the UK.
- Under the CETA, 99% of Indian goods exports to the UK receive duty-free or reduced-tariff access, while about 90% of UK goods entering India benefit similarly.
- The agreement covers 26 chapters spanning tariffs, services, investment, government procurement, and technology cooperation.
- Bilateral trade between India and the UK stood at roughly USD 56 billion at the time of signing; the agreement targets significantly higher trade volumes over the following years.
The 11.1% rise in UK-bound exports in Q1 FY27 is the first quarterly export data to reflect the tariff reductions that took effect from the CETA's July 15, 2026 commencement.
ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) and Bilateral FTAs with Singapore and Sri Lanka
The sharpest growth this quarter came from India's oldest generation of trade agreements in South and Southeast Asia, underscoring their continuing relevance alongside newer deals.
Key Details
- India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA): signed December 28, 1998, entered into force March 1, 2000 — India's first bilateral FTA with a South Asian neighbour.
- India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA): signed June 29, 2005, effective August 1, 2005; eliminates tariffs on the large majority of India's exports to Singapore.
- ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA): signed August 13, 2009, in force from January 1, 2010, as part of the broader ASEAN-India Free Trade Area (which also includes separate services and investment agreements); the agreement is currently under a joint review process to iron out implementation issues flagged by Indian industry (such as tariff inversion).
- Under AITIGA, India and ASEAN member states committed to progressively eliminate duties on approximately 76.4% of tariff lines and liberalise tariffs on over 90% of goods traded.
Singapore and Sri Lanka's more-than-doubling of exports, and ASEAN's 61.6% growth, show that India's decade-plus-old agreements with the region continue to be the primary channel for its Southeast and South Asian trade, even as the AITIGA review process seeks to address longstanding utilisation gaps.
- Q1 FY27 (April-June 2026) exports to Singapore: USD 6.52 billion (up 101.2% from USD 3.24 billion).
- Q1 FY27 exports to Sri Lanka: USD 2.35 billion (up 123.8% from USD 1.05 billion).
- Q1 FY27 exports to ASEAN: USD 14.61 billion (up 61.6% from USD 9.04 billion).
- Q1 FY27 exports to the UK: USD 3.69 billion (up 11.1% from USD 3.32 billion).
- Total India exports to FTA partner countries, Q1 FY27: USD 129.32 billion.
- India-UK CETA: signed July 24, 2025; entered into force July 15, 2026.
- India-Singapore CECA: effective August 1, 2005; India-Sri Lanka FTA: in force since March 1, 2000; AITIGA: in force since January 1, 2010.
- India has 17 signed trade agreements, with 16 currently operational (as of the India-UK CETA's entry into force).