India-UK FTA may not be operational in the next few months, says Piyush Goyal

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal

The trade agreement between India and the United Kingdom (UK), agreed upon last month, may not come into force in the next few months, given that Britain has a lengthier ratification process, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on June 18 in London.

"The process in UK is slightly longer, India gets trade deals approved much faster, I do assume that in the next few months we may not be able to enter into force the agreement until the UK processes are complete," Goyal said while speaking at the plenary session of the India Global Forum, alongside British Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds.

India's commerce ministry on June 16 said that for the trade deal between India and UK, the process of legal vetting is ongoing and is expected to be completed within three months since the closure of negotiations.

Once the legal scrubbing is concluded, the countries are expected to sign the deal. However, given Britain's lengthy ratification process, the agreement may take over a year to get operational.

"Our effort in the next 12 months, on the one hand, would be to close the trade deal, and on the other hand have more and more businesses from India and UK get together," Goyal added.

Speaking on the same issue, Reynolds said, "we are both working at pace, we have different processes to implement."

India and the UK secured a long-pending free trade agreement on May 6, with Indian exports set to benefit from duty elimination on about 99 percent of the tariff lines, covering almost 100 percent of the trade value.

Goyal added in the meantime, the two nations are looking to build business to business connect and have people understand the benefits and nuances that the deal offers.

"To the extent that whenever I am travelling now, including in the Air India plane with which I landed this morning, I met a couple of people who had come to London this morning to check out the market to further mutually-beneficially business," he added.

On the India-UK Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), currently being negotiated, Goyal said, he is optimistic about a conclusion soon given that there are no sticking points.

"There is nothing that I would call a sticking point. I think there’s negotiations on both sides to try and get the best BIT that works for both countries... I am very confident and an optimist to believe it will happen soon," the minister said.