India will eliminate import tariffs on several industrial products from the group of four nations in exchange for a 15-year investment.
India has signed a free trade deal worth $100 billion with a four-member European bloc and will remove most import tariffs on industrial products from these countries in return for investment over 15 years.
The agreement signed on Sunday with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) – after several rounds of negotiations spanning 16 years – will generate investments in a variety of Indian sectors, including pharmaceuticals, machinery and manufacturing.
EFTA comprises Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, all non-EU countries, which will have access to a rapidly growing market of 1.4 billion people, said India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. .
The India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement [TEPA] marks a historic milestone in our growing partnership,” Goyal said after the signing in New Delhi.
It will pave the way for mutual growth and prosperity “by boosting exports, promoting investment and creating jobs,” he added.
In the past two years, India has signed trade deals with Australia and the United Arab Emirates, and officials say a deal with the United Kingdom is in the final stages as Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims for $1 trillion. in annual exports by 2030.
India will eliminate, or partially eliminate, very high customs duties on 95.3 percent of industrial imports from Switzerland, excluding gold, either immediately or over time, the Swiss government said in a statement.
Norwegian companies exporting to India today face high import taxes of up to 40% on certain products,” Industry Minister Jan Christian Vestre said in a separate statement.
With the new agreement, we have achieved that import taxes are not applied to almost all Norwegian products.
Under the agreement, Indian agricultural exporters will enjoy liberalized trade rules in the form of tariff concessions in the European bloc. Professionals will also be able to accept jobs in the EFTA area, officials said.
The pact covers some new elements such as intellectual rights and gender equality, Goyal said at a press conference: “It is a modern, fair, equitable and beneficial trade agreement for all the five countries.
The five must ratify the agreement before it can come into force, and Switzerland plans to do so by 2025.
The signing comes ahead of India’s general elections, scheduled for May, in which Modi will seek a third term.
India is EFTA’s fifth largest trading partner after the EU, the United States, the United Kingdom and China, with total two-way trade of $25 billion in 2023, its commerce ministry estimates.
Formed in 1960 as a counterweight to the EU, EFTA has signed around 30 trade agreements with around 40 non-EU countries and territories.