Services in the India-EU Free Trade Agreement

| 18 April 2023
Trade, Policy Briefs | Tags: EU, India, Services Trade, Telecommunications, Trade Agreements

First published by the Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA).

This policy brief analyses the services chapters in the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and India. Using the OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI), it estimates the preference margins and simulates the impact on services trade. The FTA is predicted to substantially increase services trade between EU and India, with the largest change in financial services. India’s exports increase the most.

India and the European Union (EU) entered negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2007. Negotiations ground to a halt in 2014 but were relaunched in June 2022 together with separate negotiations on investment protection and geographical indicators. Furthermore, India and the EU launched the EU-India Trade and Technology Council to deepen cooperation on strategic issues related to the nexus of trade, technology and security. Against the backdrop of a turbulent global economy, a comprehensive agreement between these two giants is potentially important both for the parties and the rest of the world.

Based on the draft FTA text that the EU has published, this policy brief presents estimates of the preference margins for three of the sectors for which there are specific provisions in the proposed draft, and projections of changes in services trade patterns should the proposal come to bear.

Download the full policy brief Services in the India-EU Free Trade Agreement.

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