India-UK trade deal finalised 10 days before Modi’s trip, Starmer’s visit was on cards initially: Indian envoy shares inside details

The pact, officially called Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), was signed on Thursday during PM Modi’s two-day visit to the UK

Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Vikram Doraiswami, has revealed that the terms of the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) were finalised merely 10 days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Britain.

The pact, officially called Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), was signed on Thursday during PM Modi’s two-day visit to the UK. The Prime Minister of Britain Keir Starmer was also present during the signing of the agreement.

In conversation with CNN-News18, Doraiswami said initially Starmer was to visit India in the third week of July, however, the plan changed after the two leaders met at the 51st G7 Summit at Kananaskis, Canada.

“The plan was for PM Starmer to visit India in the third week of July. But when they met at the G7 in Canada, the British side indicated that for scheduling reasons, the mid-July date was a problem for them,” he was quoted as saying by CNN-News18.

“This is the start of the UK summer holiday summer. Starmer could come a couple of months later. PM Modi said as everything was finalised, he could come even if it was for a short visit. Starmer thought it was a great idea,” Doraiswami said.

CETA secures unprecedented duty-free access for 99 per cent of India’s exports to the UK, covering nearly the entire trade basket, according to an official statement by Ministry of Commerce and Industry. “This is expected to open new opportunities for labour-intensive industries such as textiles, marine products, leather, footwear, sports goods, toys, and gems and jewellery, alongside fast-growing sectors like engineering goods, auto components, and organic chemicals,” the statement added.

The signing of the India-UK CETA followed the successful conclusion of negotiations announced on May 6, 2025. The bilateral trade between the two countries stand at nearly $56 billion, with a joint goal to double this figure by 2030.

‘Largest deal in terms of complexity and depth’

Doraiswami said that even though the negotiations had completed, legal scrubbing had to be done quickly. “The negotiations had concluded but this is the largest deal we had done, both in complexity and depth. It is nearly 30 chapters. It meant the legal scrubbing for completion of the treaty had to be done in time,” Doraiswami said.

He stated that every last thing was finalised almost 10 days before PM Modi’s visit to the UK. “It is really the most forward-looking FTA we have done…I haven’t seen so much complexity in any of our previous deals. We have changed the nature of how we are going to do business,” he said.

During PM Modi’s visit, India also secured an agreement on the Double Contribution Convention. This will exempt Indian professionals and their employers from social security payments in the UK for up to three years, improving the cost competitiveness of Indian talent.