Blitz Bureau
MUMBAI: The India-UK Free Trade Agreement will unlock 25.5 billion pounds in additional trade value, according to UK Trade Commissioner for South Asia Harjinder Kang, reported IANS.
Participating in a panel discussion here, he said: “This agreement is not just a trade deal; it is a blueprint for the next chapter of UK-India economic cooperation. With 43 billion pounds in existing trade and 25.5 billion pounds in incremental upside, it opens doors to real gains for manufacturers and services providers alike.”
Kang, who is also the Deputy High Commissioner for Western India, revealed the next steps – legal scrubbing, Prime Ministerial signing, parliamentary ratification, and staggered implementation.
He affirmed that services liberalisation, auto tariffs (with quotas), and “a future-ready tech-security corridor” were built into the agreement, with potential expansion into sectors like pharmaceutical, semiconductors, and green tech. Detailing the contours of the FTA, he said that under the India-UK FTA, 99 per cent of Indian goods to the UK and 90 per cent of UK goods to India will become tariff-free.
The UK’s peak tariff on whisky will reduce from 150 per cent to 40 per cent over 10 years. The CBAM (carbon border adjustment mechanism) is not part of the India– UK FTA, reassuring Indian industry that carbon taxes will not affect bilateral trade terms under this agreement, he explained.
Alongside the FTA, the UK and India have agreed to negotiate a reciprocal DCC, which will mean employees temporarily working in the other country for up to three years will continue paying social security contributions only in their home country, Kang added.
