<p>According to reports, India has kept Britain’s demands on data-related concerns and offering any form of tariff reductions on the dairy industry outside the scope of the planned free trade deal that the two countries are now negotiating in order to protect the interests of local players. India, meanwhile, is reportedly considering offering tariff exemptions on several automobile and confectionary products.<img decoding=”async” class=”alignnone wp-image-114710″ src=”https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/theindiaprint.com-on-monday-the-sc-will-hear-arguments-against-the-uttarakhand-high-courts-order-to-remove-encroachments-in-haldwani-download-2023-08-06t180002.643.jpg” alt=”” width=”1000″ height=”726″ srcset=”https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/theindiaprint.com-on-monday-the-sc-will-hear-arguments-against-the-uttarakhand-high-courts-order-to-remove-encroachments-in-haldwani-download-2023-08-06t180002.643.jpg 263w, https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/theindiaprint.com-on-monday-the-sc-will-hear-arguments-against-the-uttarakhand-high-courts-order-to-remove-encroachments-in-haldwani-download-2023-08-06t180002.643-150×109.jpg 150w” sizes=”(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px” /></p>
<p>The agreement’s discussion has reached a crucial point and is likely to be resolved by the end of October or the beginning of November. The recent visits of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal to London in July, when both had a series of meetings with various stakeholders, including top British officials, gave the discussions a significant boost.</p>
<p>The talks would pick up steam when the UK and India’s trade ministers met this month in Jaipur, in conjunction with the G20 trade ministers conference. “The discussions benefited greatly by the minister and secretary’s visit from India. The majority of the problems have been resolved between the two nations, according to one of the sources.</p>
<p>Multiple rounds of meetings with domestic companies have been undertaken to grant tariff reductions in the car industry. India wouldn’t deal with any products in the dairy industry due to the concerns of the local companies, they claimed.</p>
<p>Indian and British negotiators are working hard to ease regulations in a variety of industries, including IT, healthcare, accounting, education, medical practices, banking, insurance, legal, and telecommunications. This is because both countries are major participants in the services industry. In industries including finance, insurance, law, and telecommunications, the UK has shown a significant interest.</p>
<p>The data localization standards in India have caused worry among UK businesses. Another source said that the planned free trade agreement between India and the UK is very close to being finalized as both parties are striving to resolve disagreements over matters including investment treaties, intellectual property rights (IPRs), and rules of origin.</p>
<p>19 of the 26 FTA chapters have been closed out of the total. Both nations discuss product-specific regulations, value addition, and certification in the chapters on rules of origin. The ‘rules of origin’ section specifies the minimum amount of processing that must take place in an FTA nation before the final produced item may be referred to as originating in that country.</p>
<p>According to this clause, a nation that has signed an FTA with India is not permitted to just label products imported from a third country and dump them on the Indian market. In order to export the goods to India, it must add a certain amount of value. Rules of origin regulations aid in preventing product dumping. Investment is being discussed separately as a bilateral investment treaty between India and the UK, and both agreements might be finalized at the same time.</p>
<p>From USD 17.5 billion in 2021–2022 to USD 20.36 billion in 2022–2023, the two nations’ bilateral trade grew. Ready-made clothing and textiles, diamonds, jewelry, engineering products, petroleum and petrochemical products, transport equipment, spices, machinery and instruments, medicines, and marine items are among India’s top exports to the UK.</p>
<p>Precious and semi-precious stones, ores, scrap metal, engineering products, non-electronic professional equipment, chemicals, and machinery are among the principal imports. The UK is the biggest market in Europe for Indian IT services in the services industry. The UK is one of the leading foreign investors in India’s financial sector.</p>
<p>UK foreign direct investment into India increased from USD 1 billion in 2021–2022 to USD 1.74 billion in 2022–2023. The amount invested between April 2000 and March 2023 was USD 33.9 billion.</p>
<p>Such agreements ease regulations to encourage trade in services and investments while also reducing or eliminating customs tariffs on the maximum amount of products that may be exchanged between two trading partners.</p>
