India concludes the free trade agreement with countries such as Switzerland

Unlock the publisher’s digest free

Roula Khalaf, editor -in -chief of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

India has announced a commercial pact with four small European countries featuring what New Delhi has described as a commitment “binding” by the partner states to invest $ 100 billion and create 1 million jobs over 15 years.

The agreement was concluded after more than 15 years of negotiations with the European Free Trade Association, whose members are Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, none of whom are big business partners for New Delhi.

The announcement comes a few days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi should announce dates for a national election, in which the economic file of his government in the past five years, including the negotiation of free trade agreements, will be to the point.

The Modi government has actively concluded trade agreements, signing pacts with the United Arab Emirates, Australia and Mauritius since its takeover in 2014. However, trade agreements have evolved with the EU and the United Kingdom – The Much larger European business partners in New Delhi – remain uncommon.

EFTA SPOKESSONSONSSON ASDIS OLAFSDOTTIR SAID THE ASSOCIATION’s States “SHALL AIM” TO INCREASE FOREIGN Direct Investment Intia by $ 50bn in the First Decade of the Agrement and Another $ 50bn in the Five Years after that, with the Hope that the investment Created 1mn Jobs the country of 1.4 billion people.

“India’s pricing discounts do not depend on EFTA’s investment in India under the agreement,” Olafsdottir told Financial Times, adding that “if the shared objectives are not achieved, the India has the possibility of suspending concessions 20 years after the agreement enters the Force agreements. “

The agreement should facilitate access to companies in European countries in the vast market in India in areas such as processed foods and drinks, and electric machines, as well as luxury items such as Swiss watches.

The Indian government said that the agreement covered more than 82% of its own pricing lines – each representing an individual product – representing more than 95% of EFTA exports.

Sectors such as dairy products, soybeans, coal and “sensitive agricultural products” will however be excluded. The greatest export of the EFTA to India is by far gold and New Delhi said that the effective effective on this subject would remain intact.

India has declared that the agreement would stimulate its exports of services in areas such as information technology, business services and education, and would give momentum to Modi Make in India Drive to stimulate investments and The creation of jobs in the sub-performant manufacturing sector of the country.

New Delhi said the pact would improve its own access in the event of more than 92% of the price lines of the EFT covering almost all of its exports to the block.

“For the first time, India signs (year) Ale with four developed countries, an important economic block in Europe,” said Piyush Goyal, Indian Minister of Commerce, in a press release. “For the first time in the history of ALF, a binding commitment of $ 100 billion and 1 million direct jobs over the next 15 years has been given.”

The IED of Norway in India in the first two decades of this century has amounted to only $ 280 million, according to the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while the IED in Switzerland in India between 2000 and 2022 was $ 10.5 billion, according to the Swiss government.

A Swiss official said that the two parties had been guided by the principle of concluding a “balanced” agreement between the most populous country in the world and four rich but small nations.

“If you look at the different market sizes, India offers a population of 1.4 billion, and it is a world world door, and we, together, we are 15 million (population),” said journalists Helene Budliger Artieda, Secretary to the Swiss State for Economic Affairs. “The prission of this foreign investment makes it a balanced matter.”

The Modi government is expected to announce dates for an election in the lower room expected by May later this week.

The announcement occurred in the midst of continuous delays in India negotiation of a much greater potential free trade agreement with the United Kingdom, where negotiators have disagreed on Indian Social Security, visas For Indian workers and other questions. The last series of discussions on this agreement ended last week.