India and EU sign free trade agreement

According to European Commission data, trade between India and the EU amounted to more than 120 billion euros (about $140 billion) in 2024, making the bloc New Delhi’s largest trading partner.

India is the EU’s ninth largest trading partner, accounting for 2.4% of total EU trade in 2024, much less than large partners such as the US (17.3%), China (14.6%) or the UK (10.1%).

The agreement will reduce or eliminate tariffs on nearly 97 percent of European exports.

As part of the agreement, India will gradually reduce import duties on automobiles from 110% to 10%, while import duties on spare parts will be phased out completely.

Duties on machine tools, chemicals and medicines will also be abolished, and duties on imports of agricultural products will be reduced.

Duties on wine imports into India will be reduced from 150% to 20%.

The agreement also addressed climate and environmental measures, labor rights and women’s empowerment.