'We Have Climbed the Mountain of Negotiations': Darpan Jain, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce on India-EU FTA.
May 19, 2026
NEW DELHI, 19 MAY 2026: India has concluded what its chief trade negotiator described as "a rare moment in economic diplomacy," but the harder task — translating a landmark free trade agreement with the European Union into gains for exporters, investors and job creators — now begins.
"We have climbed the mountain of negotiations," Mr Darpan Jain, Additional Secretary at the Department of Commerce and Industry, told the Conference on Next-Gen Trade Pacts: Leveraging India’s Partnership with Europe under FTAs, organised by FICCI in association with the Centre for Trade and Investment Law. "The bigger climb begins now — making it work on the ground for every exporter, every investor and every job creator across India and Europe."
Mr Jain, who serves as India's lead negotiator for both the India-US and India-EU free trade agreements, set out the commercial architecture of the pact, announced in January 2026. Some 99.5 per cent of Indian exports will receive preferential tariff treatment, he said, while $33 billion worth of labour-intensive goods — apparel, textiles, leather, footwear and gems and jewellery — currently facing high EU duties of 10-14 percent and going up to 26 per cent in some categories will benefit from full elimination. The combined imports of India and the EU represent roughly one-third of global trade in goods and services, he noted, a scale "which no other agreement can actually provide."
The gap between current trade flows and potential was a recurring theme. The EU imports $263 billion in textiles annually; India supplies $7.2 billion of that total. In gems and jewellery, Indian exports of $2.7 billion compare with EU imports of $80 billion. With preferential access now secured, Jain argued, the agreement creates conditions for a structural uplift in India's share of European consumer markets.
Mr James Nedumpara, Professor and Head of the Centre for Trade and Investment Law and India Chair of the WTO Chairs Programme, placed the agreement in a broader geopolitical context. Concluded at a time when major economies were treating international trade commitments "with utmost disdain," the decision by India and 27 EU member states to deepen market-opening commitments represented a significant reaffirmation of rules-based trade, he said. The agreement, he added, was "not purely about trade — it is about how we do trade."
On services, Mr Jain said India's exports had reached $421 billion in the current financial year, nearly matching goods exports of $441 billion. The agreement covers 144 of 155 EU services sub-sectors and contains dedicated mobility provisions for IT professionals, contractual service suppliers and intra-corporate transferees. A first-of-its-kind annexure facilitates Ayurveda and traditional medicine practitioners within EU member states.
FICCI Secretary General Mr Anant Swarup said the EU alone accounts for approximately 12 per cent of India's total merchandise trade. "The task before us is to convert these agreements into practical gains for industry, especially for exporters, MSMEs and service providers," he said.
FICCI Director General Ms Jyoti Vij said the agreement's value would be determined by industry uptake. "The real success of these agreements will depend on how effectively Indian industry adopts and utilises them," she said. FICCI has launched a national outreach programme to drive enterprise preparedness and state-level awareness.
Mr Harish Ahuja, Chair of the FICCI Foreign Trade and Trade Facilitation Committee and Managing Director of Shahi Exports, called for stronger support systems — standards infrastructure, testing and certification capabilities, exporter awareness, digital compliance tools, and mechanisms to address non-tariff barriers quickly and efficiently.
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