NEW DELHI– India’s trade pact with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) — comprising Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein — will take effect on October 1, with the government projecting $100 billion in investments and 1 million direct jobs over the next 15 years.
To support this rollout, the India-EFTA Desk has been inaugurated as a single-window platform to encourage investments in renewable energy, life sciences, engineering, and digital transformation. The desk will also foster joint ventures, SME collaborations, and technology partnerships, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said Tuesday.
The Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) is India’s first free trade agreement with developed European nations. It aims to cut tariffs, expand exports, and boost India’s share of key commodities in the EFTA market. In 2024, India’s exports to EFTA totaled $72.37 million, just 0.41 percent of the bloc’s imports.
TEPA contains 14 chapters covering market access for goods and services, rules of origin, trade facilitation, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, investment promotion, intellectual property rights (IPR), and trade and sustainable development.
Under the pact, EFTA has offered tariff-free access on 92.2 percent of tariff lines, covering 99.6 percent of India’s exports, including all non-agricultural products and concessions on processed agricultural products. India, in turn, has offered coverage on 82.7 percent of tariff lines, representing 95.3 percent of EFTA exports. Sensitive sectors such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, processed food, dairy, coal, soya, and other agricultural products remain protected.
More than 80 percent of EFTA’s exports to India are gold, and the pact will not alter the current duty on gold imports.
The agreement also opens opportunities in IT, business services, cultural and recreational services, education, and audio-visual industries. On IPR, the deal commits both sides to the WTO’s TRIPS standards. With Switzerland, the IPR provisions are more rigorous, but India’s interests in generic medicines and concerns about “evergreening” of patents have been addressed, the ministry said. (Source: IANS)
