'India waiting for EU's confirmation to proceed on FTA talks'

India is awaiting confirmation from the European Union (EU) to resume the negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement, Parliament was informed on May 11.

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply to Rajya Sabha said India is willing to proceed with negotiations under India-EU Broad based Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA).

"India is awaiting confirmation from the EU side to proceed with the negotiations," she said.

The talks were started in June 2007 and so far 16 rounds of negotiations have been held.

"Due to some outstanding issue, EU withdrew from the negotiations in 2013," she said adding, two rounds of stocktaking meetings took place in January and February.

India wants data security status, relaxations in movement of professionals, real market access in terms of sanitary and phytosanitary (norms related with plants and animals); and technical barriers to trade measures adopted in EU.

The negotiations were expected in August, but they were deferred by India, expressing disappointment and concern over the EU banning sale of around 700 pharma products, clinically tested by GVK Biosciences.

The negotiations for the proposed Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement have witnessed many hurdles with both sides having major differences on crucial issues.

Besides demanding significant duty cuts in automobiles, EU wants tax reduction in wines and spirits and dairy products and a strong intellectual property regime.

The free trade pact is aimed at reducing or significantly eliminating tariffs on goods, facilitating trade in services and boosting investments between the two sides.

The two-way commerce in goods between India and the EU was USD 98.5 billion in 2014-15.

Replying to a separate question, the minister said trading firm STC has written off an amount of Rs 123.66 crore during the last three years.