India-EU Seal Historic Trade Deal, "Mother of All Deals" Concluded

According to the Commerce Secretary, the formal deal signing will be done after legal scrubbing. The deal will be balanced, forward-looking and help with better economic integration with EU. The deal will boost trade and investment between the two sides.

Further, the deal will enter into force sometime next year. The legal scrubbing of text is likely to take five-six months, and the formal signing to be done post that.

The President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will represent the EU at the 16th EU-India summit in New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host the summit.

At the summit, leaders are expected to adopt a joint EU-India comprehensive strategic agenda, which aims to increase strategic cooperation between both sides in four areas, reinforced by enablers across pillars: prosperity and sustainability, technology and innovation, security and defence and connectivity and global issues.

In an interview with Euro News ahead of a high-level EU-India summit, European Union Trade Commissioner Marcos Sefcovic said the long-awaited free trade agreement with India is "very close" and could significantly open the Indian market to European firms.

Sefcovic described the prospective pact as the "mother of all deals," noting that negotiators are "checking their final numbers" as the European bloc pushes to reduce India's steep import duties, which can reach up to 150% in some sectors.

"In some sector, India has tariff going up to 150%. And therefore, big parts of the economy has been completely closed off to the European exporters," he said, adding: "Now the big benefit will be opening the economy."

According to Sefcovic, the agreement would create a free trade area encompassing roughly 2 billion people and lift many Indian customs duties on European goods, although sensitive sectors will be excluded to focus on "the positive outcome."

"This is the largest trade deal ever," he said, highlighting that around 6,000 European companies already operate in India and trade between the two partners has surged significantly over the past decade, reported Euro News.

Brussels views the deal as a strategic move to diversify its trade ties beyond the United States and China, while Indian officials have signalled willingness to open markets to foreign investment and goods in key areas.

Senior EU leaders, including the Vice-President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, signalled strong momentum in EU-India relations spanning trade, security, and defence cooperation.

Kallas said that the EU is seizing the opportunity to deepen ties.

In a post on X, she said, "There is strong momentum for closer cooperation with India, and we are seizing it. It is a pleasure to be in New Delhi today and an honour to attend the Republic Day celebration. As a symbol of our deepening bond, personnel from our EU naval operations, Atalanta and Aspides, are taking part in the parade for the first time. Tomorrow, at the Summit, we will take our relationship forward by signing the EU-India Security and Defence Partnership. This will deliver concrete results in areas such as maritime security, cybersecurity, and counterterrorism."

In October 2025, the Council of the EU endorsed the new strategic EU-India agenda and its objective of further developing EU-India ties.

At the summit, leaders will also discuss trade in the context of the now-concluded free-trade agreement that started in 2007 (and was relaunched in 2022). This agreement would boost bilateral trade and investment ties and drive shared prosperity.

- ANI