{"id":188642,"date":"2026-05-19T13:28:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T11:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/sala_stampa\/archivionotizie\/\/2026\/05\/india-firmato-a-nuova-delhi-laccordo-di-libero-scambio-con-lunione-europea\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T13:49:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T11:49:33","slug":"india-firmato-a-nuova-delhi-laccordo-di-libero-scambio-con-lunione-europea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/sala_stampa\/archivionotizie\/diplomazia-economica\/2026\/05\/india-firmato-a-nuova-delhi-laccordo-di-libero-scambio-con-lunione-europea\/","title":{"rendered":"India Signed Free Trade Agreement with the European Union in New Delhi"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 16th Summit between the European Union and India, held in late January in New Delhi, marked the signing of the free trade agreement between the European Union and the Asian country. Hosted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the participation of European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the meeting provided the opportunity to create a strategic partnership<\/strong>, reaffirming the two countries’ commitment to being reliable allies in a deeply changing global order. According to data published by the European Commission, the agreement creates the world’s largest free trade area<\/strong>, uniting nearly two billion people and covering approximately 25% of global gross domestic product (GDP).<\/p>\n

The negotiation process – outlined in a statement from the Directorate General for the European Union – began in 2007. It was suspended in 2013, and restarted in 2022, reaching its conclusion after fourteen rounds of negotiations.<\/p>\n

The document is a classic trade agreement, but it takes on particular significance considering India\u2019s traditional protectionist approach. The agreement will eliminate or reduce over 90% of overall customs tariffs, resulting in estimated annual savings of four billion euros for European exporters<\/strong>. Specifically, the agreement provides for the total or partial liberalization of 96.6% of tariff lines on the European side and 99.3% on the Indian side. EU projections indicate a potential doubling of European exports to India by 2032,<\/strong> a trend destined to benefit the six thousand EU companies already operating in the local market and create new opportunities by providing specific assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises.<\/p>\n

Liberalization is complete for chemicals and pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, plastics, paper, textiles, footwear, and toys, while it is approximately 75% for medical products. A significant compromise concerns the automotive sector, for which a quota of imported vehicles has been established at highly preferential tariffs, in addition to the full liberalization of parts intended for assembly in India. The Italian manufacturing system can particularly benefit from the innovations introduced in the machinery sector, for which full liberalization has been agreed. In the industrial sector, the need to compensate India for European measures on steel has prevented full protection of interests in the ceramic, textile, and aluminium sectors, although a twenty-two-year safeguard system has been established to intervene in the event of import-related disruptions.<\/p>\n

The Commission also emphasizes the introduction of streamlined customs procedures and strong protection of intellectual property rights<\/strong>, including copyright, trademarks, and designs.<\/p>\n

In the agricultural sector, the Parties have prioritized their respective defence interests. Sensitive products for the Italian economy, such as rice, sugar, poultry, honey, beef, soft wheat, and dairy products, remain excluded from the liberalization. However, Largely positive results, however, have been achieved for premium products such as olive oil, spirits, and wines, which will benefit from a significant reduction in entry barriers, with immediate cuts and progressive reductions<\/strong> over a seven-year period.<\/p>\n

With specific reference to services, India has made unprecedented liberalization commitments, including financial services, maritime transport, dredging, and the laying of submarine cables.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 16th Summit between the European Union and India, held in late January in New Delhi, marked the signing of the free trade agreement between the European Union and the Asian country. Hosted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the participation of European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der […]","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":187335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[417],"tags":[45,3],"class_list":["post-188642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diplomazia-economica","tag-asia-e-oceania","tag-diplomazia-economica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188642"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":188647,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188642\/revisions\/188647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}