Dairy, apples, cheese kept out of India-UK FTA

    By
    The Dairy Times News Bureau
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    New Delhi, May 06, 2025: India has excluded sensitive items like dairy products, apples, cheese among others from the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with United Kingdom, commerce ministry said on May 6.

    “Sensitive items like dairy products, apples, cheese etcetera excluded from any duty concession by India to protect its farmers,” the ministry said.

    This is in line with India’s traditional stance of keeping dairy out of trade deals with countries.

    India’s dairy sector remains protected from duty concessions in FTAs due to its sensitivity involving small farmers. Recent agreements with Switzerland, Norway, and Australia too excluded this sector.

    New Delhi is also more protective of its agricultural sector when negotiating trade deals with other nations.

    India and the UK secured a long-pending FTA on May 6, with Indian exports set to benefit from duty elimination on about 99 percent of the tariff lines, covering almost 100 percent of the trade value.

    The British government informed that through the trade deal, Indian tariffs will be slashed, locking in reductions on 90 percent of tariff lines, with 85 percent of these becoming fully tariff-free within a decade.

    The UK began free trade talks with India in January 2022, viewing the deal as one of Brexit’s most valuable opportunities according to the reports published in moneycontrol.com.

    The FTA – which has 26 chapters including goods, services, investments, and intellectual property rights – was originally slated to be signed during Diwali 2022,

    While India has stuck to its usual stance with regard to the FTA with UK, recent reports suggest that agricultural and dairy goods could be a key area of the ongoing discussions between India and the US for a trade deal, with both countries looking to enhance market access by reducing tariffs and removing non-tariff barriers.

    In 2021, India dropped out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), citing its negative effects on farmers and the dairy sector.

    India and the US aim to negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by fall 2025.

    Corporate Comm India (CCI Newswire)

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