India-UK Vision 2035 FTA Pact is the Gold Standard, Opens Door for Trade Negotiations, Says C&I Min Piyush Goyal
Staff, DigiTIMES. 
India-UK Vision Document 2035 FTA Pact is the Gold Standard, Opens Door for Business and Trade Negotiations
India-UK trade deal could be the new gold standard for India as it opens the country’s door for business and trade negotiations with other partners even as it opens doors for sensitive sectors such as dairy, rice and sugar, as well as labour-intensive sectors, The Indian Express quoted Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal as saying at a press briefing on July 26, 2025 Saturday in New Delhi.
At the press conference, the minister said, “Our effort is that the Indian industry gets preferential access over our competition, and I think this [UK FTA] can become a gold standard to ensure that India protects its sensitive sectors and opens the doors, particularly in highly labour-intensive sectors and allows high-quality goods, technology and other products to come to India”.
India’s free trade agreements (FTAs) with other countries are non-competitive in nature, and that under the UK-FTA deal, India will benefit from products which are in short supply. The Commerce and Industry minister went on to add “in every aspect, this is an agreement which opens far greater opportunities for India than any other agreement”.
The FTA deal will help India in boosting its labour-intensive products such as footwear, textiles, and gems and jewellery. “Zero compromise and extensive benefits make it a phenomenal free trade agreement,” Goyal said.
Highlighting the India-UK Vision document 2035 which outlines the collaborative goals of the FTA between the two nations, Goyal said India and UK will work together to develop cutting-edge technology and research towards Technology Security Initiative.
Clarifying on the tariff concessions India would derive from the trade deal in the light of UK’s Carbon Border Adjustment (CBAM), the minister said, “Currently there is no CBAM in effect. So it cannot be addressed in the FTA. But India is a sovereign country, and if our export interests are hurt, we will react and retaliate, or ‘rebalance’”.
Goyal further added saying the EU is opposed to CBAM as the cost of manufacturing and housing in the Union will become costlier and industry will suffer there.
The FTA pact – within India-UK Vision document 2035 – will further interests in future telecoms, AI and critical minerals, and thereby opens up scope for future collaborations on semi-conductors, quantum, biotech and advanced materials.
