In a global economy increasingly grappling with fragmentation, tariffs and geopolitical risk, the India-EU Free Trade Agreement marks a decisive assertion of strategic economic confidence.

This is not merely a trade deal concluded after years of negotiations; it is one of the most consequential economic alignments of the decade, binding the world’s most populous nation with the largest integrated economic bloc.

Together, India and the European Union represent nearly 1.9 billion people, around a quarter of global GDP, more than one-fifth of global merchandise trade, and close to a third of global services output. Few agreements in modern trade history operate at this scale. The timing of the deal, of course, makes it all the more special.

For India, the timing could scarcely be more important. Global trade growth has slowed to below 3 percent annually, protectionism is rising across advanced economies, and supply chains are being reconfigured amid strategic rivalries. Against this backdrop, the India-EU FTA anchors India firmly within the world’s most rules-based, high-value markets, signalling that India is prepared to compete and lead within the most demanding trade ecosystems.

Even before the agreement, the EU was India’s largest trading partner with annual bilateral trade of approximately 120 billion to 125 billion euros, accounting for over 15 percent of India’s total trade. With the FTA now in place, credible projections suggest this figure could cross 200 billion euros within a decade.

That would make the India-EU trade corridor larger than India’s trade with ASEAN, Japan, and South Korea combined, underscoring the transformative potential........

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