India and the UK will commence formal negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on November 1, 2021, setting a target of March 2022 to frame an “interim early harvest agreement”, an Indian government statement said on Thursday, September 16.
The interim trade pact will involve early tariff or market access concessions on certain key “high priority products and services”, India’s ministry of commerce said in the statement.
The India-UK Business Council in a pre-FTA submission to the UK government has sought measures to ensure tax parity between the UK and Indian businesses and lower tariffs.
The council has also pitched for curbing non-tariff barriers to goods trade by aligning standards and “simplifying burdensome and costly customs procedures” and steps such as “protection and alignment of data protection rules to enable digitally-driven future-focused” industries.