“India will be world’s premier manufacturing, service hub”: Swiss Secretary lauds India-EFTA Trade Economic Partnership Agreement

Swiss State Secretary lauds the USD 100-billion free trade pact between India and EFTA. India will be the premier manufacturing and service hub. Swiss market is open for Indian goods. Switzerland plans to invest 100 billion USD in India.

India and the four-European nation bloc EFTA signed a trade and economic partnership agreement (TEPA) on Sunday to boost trade and investments between the two regions. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

India and the European bloc EFTA will sign a free trade agreement, promoting investments and exports of key sectors like IT, audio-visual, skilled professionals, pharma, medical devices, and processed food, with a commitment of $50 billion investment and generation of 1 million direct employment.

India plans to link duty reductions under the trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) to investments made by member countries like Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. These nations have committed to investing $100 billion over 15 years. The FTA is scheduled to be signed on Sunday following its clearance by the Union […]

The latest round of trade talks between the UK and India appears set to end without a breakthrough. Negotiations for a free-trade agreement, seen as a key prize of Brexit, have been plagued by disputes over visas, market access, and more. Indian negotiators don’t have sufficient time to engage on the pending issues ahead of […]

“Enabling provisions are made for exempting inputs imported by Advance Authorisation holders and EOUs from mandatory Quality Control Orders (QCOs),” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification. The unutilised material will be destroyed in the presence of jurisdictional GST/customs authorities, it added.

The commerce ministry said that amid global economic uncertainties and supply chain disruptions, extending RoDTEP benefits to the uncovered sectors like AA (advance authorisation), EOUs, and SEZ units will help the exporting community in handling the international headwinds.

Earlier, UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch said that while a trade deal with India is “possible” to be concluded before a general election in the country, Britain does not want to use that as a deadline. “We can actually sign an agreement before the Indian election. I suspect that that […]

The UK trade deal with India could be concluded before the general election, but no deadline has been set. UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch emphasized the importance of a commercially meaningful pact and discussed the ongoing negotiations and concerns

The agreement has several chapters, including trade in goods, rules of origin, intellectual property rights, trade in services, investment promotion and cooperation, trade and sustainable development, and trade facilitation. New Delhi has sought $100 billion of committed investments from the grouping and is considering giving quota-based duty concessions on gold imports from Switzerland.