India-UK FTA talks: Pending issues to be resolved after UK polls

New Delhi: The outstanding issues in the India-UK bilateral trade pact such as the one about minimum import price (MIP) for Scotch whisky and those related to finalisation of a bilateral investment treaty will be discussed after the general elections in Britain, a top official said. The issues that need to be ironed out include duties in sectors like electric vehicles, alcoholic beverages and services.

General elections in the UK will be held on July 4.

“The outstanding issues to seal the deal will be resolved once the general elections in the UK are over,” said L Satya Srinivas, additional secretary, department of commerce.

The UK is seeking a significant cut in import duties on goods such as Scotch whisky, automobiles, including electric vehicles, and chocolates, besides opportunities for British companies in India’s services sectors such as telecommunications and financial services. “They understood some of our issues from a much better perspective,” he said, adding that the attitude of other countries to look at China-plus story is also visible when “we are dealing with these countries for FTAs“.

With the EU, the eighth round of negotiations is scheduled for June 24-28 in Brussels. Officials said companies have started reporting the data on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which will come into effect from January 1, 2026, and would impact steel, cement, fertiliser, aluminium and hydrocarbon products.