India and UK will sign a free trade agreement (FTA) on Thursday during PM Modi’s UK visit, officials said, with New Delhi to ease tariffs on British whisky, cars and some food items, and the UK offering duty-free access to Indian textiles and electric vehicles.
The pact, concluded in May after three years of stop-start talks, should boost bilateral trade by removing numerous barriers and granting each country greater market access to the other. It will take effect after the British parliament and India’s federal cabinet approve it, likely within a year.
“This is a significant agreement,” Vikram Misri, India’s foreign secretary, told reporters on Tuesday, adding that legal vetting of the deal was near completion ahead of Modi’s four-day trip to the UK and Maldives.
Trade minister Piyush Goyal will accompany Modi for the formal signing, a commerce ministry official said.
