Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 4, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic visits India as free trade talks advance. The EU and India aim to finalize the agreement by year-end, with significant progress reported.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic will visit New Delhi next week, as talks on a planned free trade agreement make "rapid progress", Indian trade minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.
The report of advances in the long-running negotiations with Europe came a week after sharp hikes in U.S. tariffs on Indian goods came into effect.
Indian officials have said the discussions with the EU are in an advanced stage and the next round - also due to run next week - will be crucial to building consensus for a deal by the end of the year.
The three-day visit by Sefcovic, European Commissioner for Trade, will start on Thursday, Goyal told TV news channel India Today.
"We have been negotiating with the European Union 27-nation bloc for the last three-and-a-half years and making rapid progress," he added.
Talks for an India-EU free trade agreement stalled for eight years before resuming in 2021.
The EU has sought steep duty cuts on vehicles, medical devices, wine, spirits and dairy products, while India is pressing for greater access for its textiles, pharmaceuticals, steel and petroleum products, officials have said.
The EU is India’s biggest trading partner in goods, with bilateral trade hitting $137.5 billion in the 2023/24 fiscal year, up nearly 90% over the past decade.
Later on Wednesday, after a phone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU remained committed to concluding negotiations by the end of the year.
"To achieve this, progress is needed now,” she said on X.
Von der Leyen said India had a key role in pressing Russia to end its war in Ukraine and that the EU and India aim to agree on a joint strategic agenda at a summit as early as 2026.
(Reporting by Manoj Kumar in New Delhi, writing by Hritam Mukherjee; Editing by YP Rajesh and Andrew Heavens)
Maros Sefcovic, the EU trade chief, is visiting India to discuss the planned free trade agreement as negotiations are making rapid progress.
India and the EU have been negotiating the free trade agreement for the last three-and-a-half years, with talks having previously stalled for eight years before resuming in 2021.
The EU is seeking steep duty cuts on various products, including vehicles and medical devices, while India is pushing for greater access for its textiles, pharmaceuticals, and steel.
Ursula von der Leyen stated that the EU remains committed to concluding negotiations by the end of the year and emphasized the need for progress.
The EU is India's biggest trading partner in goods, with bilateral trade reaching $137.5 billion in the 2023/24 fiscal year, marking a nearly 90% increase over the past decade.
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