India–UK trade rises 15%, British imports surge twice as fast as exports in FTA’s first full month
Bilateral trade between India and the United Kingdom rose 15.08 percent year on year to nearly $2 billion in August, the first full month following the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), with imports from the UK growing more than twice as fast as Indian exports.
The increase was driven in part by a surge in silver imports, while electrical machinery and telecom instruments led gains in India’s exports.
The FTA, formally the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), came into force on July 15.
Under the CETA, nearly 99 percent of Indian exports get zero-duty access to the UK, while around 90 percent of UK goods entering India benefit from tariff elimination or reductions.
