New Delhi
The Free Trade Agreement between India and the European group of four countries EFTA will be applicable from October 1. Both sides have signed the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) on March 10, 2024. Let’s learn about this in detail. The Free Trade Agreement between India and the European group of four countries EFTA will be applicable from October 1. Both sides signed the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) on 10 March 2024. Under the agreement, India has committed an investment of US $ 100 billion in 15 years from the group, while many products such as Swiss watches, chocolate and chopped and polished diamonds have been allowed at low or zero charges.
Goyal said in a post on X, “India-EFTA TEPA will be effective from October 1.” Members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The group has committed an investment of US $ 100 billion- after the implementation of the agreement, within 10 years, US $ 50 billion and US $ 50 billion in the next five years- 1 million direct employment will be created in India. This is the first vow of its kind agreed in any trade agreement signed by India so far.
This commitment is the main element of this agreement, which took about 16 years to complete, in return for which India opened their markets for many products coming from EFTA countries. India’s largest trading partner in this group is Switzerland. India’s trade with the remaining three countries is low.
In this agreement, India is offering 82.7 percent of its tariff lines or product categories, which is 95.3 percent of EFTA exports, out of which more than 80 percent is import gold. Domestic customers will be available at high quality Swiss products, such as clocks, chocolate, biscuits and watches, at a low price, as India will eliminate customs duty on these items in 10 years in a phased manner under the trade agreement.
In the service sector, the Ministry of Commerce earlier stated that India offered 105 sub-sectors to EFTA, such as accounting, commercial services, computer services, distribution and health. On the other hand, the country has obtained commitments from Switzerland to 128 sub-sectors, 114 from Norway, 107 from Lichenstein and 110 from Iceland. Areas where Indian services will be promoted include legal, visual, research and development, computer, accounting and audit.
In addition, the agreement will provide domestic exporters an opportunity to integrate in the European Union (EU) markets. The European Union is more than 40 percent of Switzerland’s global service exports. Indian companies can see Switzerland as a basis to increase their reach to the European Union. India-EFTA bilateral trade in 2024–25 was US $ 24.4 billion.