India will look to revive trade with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) bloc—comprising Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein—now that its economic partnership agreement came into force on October 1.
The move comes against the backdrop of a steady decline in EFTA’s share in India’s trade over the past decade. Switzerland and Norway are among the bloc’s biggest players.
EFTA accounted for 0.45 percent of India’s exports and just over 3 percent of its imports in FY25, down from 0.59 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively, in FY16. Switzerland alone dominates India’s EFTA trade, but its share in India’s imports has fallen from over 5 percent in FY16 to just about 3 percent in FY25.
Trade trends over the decade
India’s exports to EFTA countries rose only marginally over the past ten years, from $1.54 billion in FY16 to $1.97 billion in FY25. Switzerland accounted for the bulk of this, with exports climbing from $977 million to $1.47 billion in the period. Exports to Norway remained modest, averaging $400–500 million annually, while Iceland and Liechtenstein together accounted for less than $70 million in FY25.
Imports, however, remained far larger in scale—dominated by Switzerland’s gold and precious metals trade. India’s imports from EFTA stood at $22.4 billion in FY25, only slightly above the $19.9 billion recorded in FY16, but with sharp fluctuations in between. Imports from Switzerland touched a high of $23.4 billion in FY22 before falling to $21.8 billion last year. Norway’s share, once above $2 billion, fell back to just over $600 million in FY25. Falling share in overall trade
EFTA’s share in India’s overall imports and exports has been on a steady decline. India’s exports to the bloc remained under 0.5 percent of its global exports for most of the last decade. This has made EFTA one of India’s smaller trading partners despite the high-value nature of gold, metals, and niche industrial goods involved in the trade.
FTA hopes for revival
With the new FTA in place, India will hope to increase trade volumes with the bloc, expanding into pharmaceuticals, machinery, IT services, and renewable energy segments as it tries to offset the impact of US tariffs.
Manufacturing activity numbers released by HSBC on October 1 showed that the strategy seems to be working.
“There was a pick-up in growth of international orders at the end of the second fiscal quarter, as Indian manufacturers welcomed improvements in demand from Asia, Europe, the Americas and the Middle East,” HSBC noted.
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