India's Expanding FTA Network: Nine Trade Pacts in About Four Years and New Talks with the Gulf, Canada and Mexico
The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry said India has concluded nine free trade agreements (FTAs) in the last four to four and a half years, together covering 38 developed economies. Pacts signed before 2014 gave preferential access to markets with a combined GDP of only about $10 trillion.
The India-UK trade agreement has been in force since 15 July 2026. A UK minister is visiting India for a joint trade committee meeting, and Canada wants to speed up its talks.
The UAE and Oman deals are done. The other four Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members have also started talks, and all six want a single India-GCC FTA.
Talks are going on with Israel, Chile and the Eurasian countries, and talks with Mexico will be launched next week.
The government said trade deals are now shaped after consultations with industry, farmers, fishermen and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), so that sensitive sectors stay protected while exporters gain new markets.
Free Trade Agreements: Concept and WTO Framework
A Free Trade Agreement is a deal between two or more countries to remove or sharply cut import taxes (tariffs) on most of the goods they trade with each other. Each country still keeps its own tariffs for countries outside the deal. Modern FTAs also cover services, investment, digital trade, government purchases and rules on standards.
India's recent pacts are mostly with developed, high-income economies (UAE, Australia, EFTA, UK and others). These economies buy the labour-intensive goods that Indian MSMEs make, and they compete less directly with Indian farmers and factories than some earlier Asian partners did.
India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)
The India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, is a free trade agreement between India and the United Kingdom. It removes or cuts import taxes on most goods traded between the two countries, and makes it easier to sell services and for professionals to work in each other's markets. It came into force on 15 July 2026. It is one of India's biggest trade deals with a developed economy.
The India-UK CETA is among the nine recent trade pacts the government counted. With the UK minister now visiting for a joint trade committee meeting, the focus is shifting from signing the deal to making sure exporters, especially MSMEs, actually use it.
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
The Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, is a regional group of six Arab countries on the Arabian Peninsula: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. They work together on economy, trade, security and policy. The GCC is one of India's largest trading partners and the home of millions of Indian workers.
With the UAE and Oman deals done, a group-wide India-GCC FTA would cover the whole Gulf region, linking trade with India's energy security and its large Indian workforce there.
- FTAs concluded in about 4 to 4.5 years: 9, covering 38 developed economies
- Pre-2014 trade pacts: preferential access to about $10 trillion of global GDP
- India-UK CETA in force: 15 July 2026
- Gulf: UAE and Oman deals done; all six GCC members now seek a joint FTA
- Ongoing talks: Canada, Israel, Chile, Eurasian Economic Union; talks with Mexico to be launched
- Occasion: 121st Annual Session of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry
- India's population cited: 1.4 billion