The India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will require at least fifteen months for implementation, including three months for “legal scrubbing” of the text and a year more for its ratification by the British Parliament, sources have said.
“The broad contours of the text have been officially shared by the two countries. But further details will be made available after discussions with the UK to ensure that both sides are on the same page. The detailed text would be ready once its joint legal vetting is over, which may take about three months,” an official told businessline.
Once the legal vetting of the India-UK FTA is done, it will then be sent to the British Parliament for ratification, which can take about one year, the official added.
The decision to lower tariffs on alcohol and automotives was a pragmatic one and helped India’s cause, the official said. “We have been holding on to alcohol and auto and that has led us to lose out on gains in other sectors such as textiles, gems & jewellery and footwear,” the official said adding that there would be gains in the two sectors as well.
India’s concessions on Scotch whisky offered under FTA did not come with a Minimum Import Pricing (MIP) condition, which was demanded by the Indian industry.
“The duty cut will not hurt Indian industry and consumers, and in fact, it will create jobs in the bottling segment,” the official said.
As per the agreement, India will reduce duty on UK whisky and gin from 150 per cent to 75 per cent and further to 40 per cent in the tenth year of the deal.
In the automobile sector, only a small opportunity had been opened up for the UK which would be gradually provided over 10-15 years, the official added. “No low-cost or futuristic cars are being allowed through the FTA with UK. We have kept the automobile industry in the country in the loop and have come up with offers only after consultations,” the official said.
The quota for tariff concessions are being offered based on engine capacity for Internal Combustion Engines (ICE), and on price bands for electric vehicles (EVs).
On the vexed issued of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), UK’s tax on carbon-intensive imports scheduled to be implemented from January 2027, the official said that India had reserved its right to retaliate. “It has been agreed that if the UK introduces CBAM, India has the right to retaliate. Moreover, if India introduces its own carbon levy to tax these products and issues certification of equivalent taxation, then these items will not be taxed in the UK,” the official said.
The India–UK FTA, announced on May 7, will lead to tariff elimination on about 99 per cent of the tariff lines covering almost 100 per cent of the trade value for India. Bilateral trade in goods and services is expected to double to $120 billion by 2030.
Published on May 8, 2025
The India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will require at least fifteen months for implementation, including three months for “legal scrubbing” of the text and a year more for its ratification by the British Parliament, sources have said.
“The broad contours of the text have been officially shared by the two countries. But further details will be made available after discussions with the UK to ensure that both sides are on the same page. The detailed text would be ready once its joint legal vetting is over, which may take about three months,” an official told businessline.
Once the legal vetting of the India-UK FTA is done, it will then be sent to the British Parliament for ratification, which can take about one year, the official added.
The decision to lower tariffs on alcohol and automotives was a pragmatic one and helped India’s cause, the official said. “We have been holding on to alcohol and auto and that has led us to lose out on gains in other sectors such as textiles, gems & jewellery and footwear,” the official said adding that there would be gains in the two sectors as well.
India’s concessions on Scotch whisky offered under FTA did not come with a Minimum Import Pricing (MIP) condition, which was demanded by the Indian industry.
“The duty cut will not hurt Indian industry and consumers, and in fact, it will create jobs in the bottling segment,” the official said.
As per the agreement, India will reduce duty on UK whisky and gin from 150 per cent to 75 per cent and further to 40 per cent in the tenth year of the deal.
In the automobile sector, only a small opportunity had been opened up for the UK which would be gradually provided over 10-15 years, the official added. “No low-cost or futuristic cars are being allowed through the FTA with UK. We have kept the automobile industry in the country in the loop and have come up with offers only after consultations,” the official said.
The quota for tariff concessions are being offered based on engine capacity for Internal Combustion Engines (ICE), and on price bands for electric vehicles (EVs).
On the vexed issued of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), UK’s tax on carbon-intensive imports scheduled to be implemented from January 2027, the official said that India had reserved its right to retaliate. “It has been agreed that if the UK introduces CBAM, India has the right to retaliate. Moreover, if India introduces its own carbon levy to tax these products and issues certification of equivalent taxation, then these items will not be taxed in the UK,” the official said.
The India–UK FTA, announced on May 7, will lead to tariff elimination on about 99 per cent of the tariff lines covering almost 100 per cent of the trade value for India. Bilateral trade in goods and services is expected to double to $120 billion by 2030.
Published on May 8, 2025
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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
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