Episode Summary
In this episode of Interpreting India, Dinakar Peri is joined by Mohan Kumar, former Indian Ambassador to France and a veteran trade negotiator, to unpack the newly concluded India–EU Free Trade Agreement and why he describes it as the “mother of all trade deals” for India. Kumar explains why the agreement is strategically significant, why the timing matters, and what it signals about India’s trade posture, competitiveness, and broader alignment between trade, technology, and security.
Why is the India–EU FTA seen as India’s most consequential trade deal to date? Why did it take so long to conclude, and what explains the timing now? How do EU regulations shape market access, and what does “meeting standards” really require for Indian exporters? What is included in the deal, what is left out, and why were those exclusions important to getting it across the line?
Episode Notes
Kumar frames the India–EU FTA as a deal India needed, not one it merely chose, arguing that with the multilateral trade system weakened, FTAs have become the practical route to secure market access and signal openness to investment. He places the EU among India’s “$100 billion club” trading partners and explains why this agreement fills a gap India cannot realistically close with China, and cannot replicate with the United States in the form of a full FTA.
On timing, he calls the early 2010s a missed opportunity but notes that current geopolitical conditions have raised India’s value for Europe, including Europe’s push to de-risk from China and the absence of an EU–U.S. FTA. A major thread is regulation: Kumar acknowledges the EU’s regulatory intensity, but argues India must adapt to global technical and sanitary standards, using the agreement’s timelines and technical assistance to reduce friction and help industry upgrade over time.
He clarifies the trade-offs that made the deal viable: core agriculture and dairy are left out due to political sensitivities on both sides; government procurement is excluded due to India’s constraints and federal realities; and investment protection and geographical indications are kept on separate tracks to avoid a more complex EU-wide ratification path. He also describes how negotiations manage domestic sensitivities through consultation with industry, transition periods, tariff-rate quotas, and product thresholds, particularly in sectors like autos, aiming to expose firms gradually to competition while pushing manufacturing to become more competitive.
In closing, Kumar argues the hard work starts after signing. He stresses that Indian industry must actually use the agreement’s tariff concessions, pointing to historically low utilization of FTAs—and that domestic reforms cannot be postponed if India wants the deal to deliver results. He highlights reforms in agriculture, labor implementation, power, and land acquisition, and ties this to a broader shift he sees globally: trade policy and security policy are increasingly moving into alignment, especially in a world of dual-use technology and tighter strategic partnerships.
