Goyal hits out at Congress for raising concerns over India-EU FTA

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday (January 28, 2026) criticized the Congress for raising concerns over the India-EU free trade agreement and said that the agreement is not a zero-sum deal but a win-win deal that will fuel the country’s economic growth and create huge opportunities for businesses and people.

The Congress on Wednesday (January 29) expressed concerns following the signing of the India-EU free trade agreement, including the “failure” of the Narendra Modi Government to provide exemptions for India’s aluminum and steel producers from the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and duty reduction or relief on over 96 per cent of the bloc’s exports to India.

Congress general secretary for communications Jairam Ramesh said there are also concerns about refined fuels, India’s largest export to the EU, as well as concerns about the EU’s stringent health and product safety rules, which will continue to be in place on Indian exports even after the FTA.

Responding to Mr. Ramesh’s comments on social media, Mr. Goyal said it is interesting to see that those who cannot take decisions because they have no connection with people on the ground are today making a virtue of doing nothing.

The Minister said that the Indian people have paid huge costs for this missed opportunity, the country has lost valuable jobs, income and growth and people have rightly been punished many times over for this inaction.

Mr. Goyal said in

Giving a blow-by-blow rebuttal, Mr. Goyal said he was surprised that Mr. Ramesh thought it was highly exaggerated while the whole world was calling it the “mother of all deals”.

“Is it an exaggeration that with a total GDP of $25 trillion, global trade of $11 trillion and a common market of 2 billion people, India’s labor-intensive exports of $33 billion will collapse to zero on the first day? It is unfortunate that my friend has overlooked a fundamental fact that we are both largely complementary economies.”

“This is not a zero-sum deal, but a win-win agreement that will strengthen our economic growth and create numerous opportunities for our businesses and people,” he added.

The Minister also said that India has addressed the CBAM (carbon border adjustment mechanism) issue, the interests of domestic exporters in steel, aluminum and all other sectors like no one else has done before and has identified ways to find solutions.

“We have found creative ways to address these complex and sensitive issues through dialogue, trust and support with our partners rather than through immature, irrational and rigid positions of ‘just my way or the highway’,” he said.

He added that the agreement is a long-term strategic agreement based on trust and mutual respect that will strengthen trade routes.

“I hope my friend can devote more time to understand the automotive industry and what we want to do. Our quota-based, premium segment focused and phased automobile offering (with a time lag of 5 years for electric vehicles from EIF) intends to increase Manufacturing in India,” he said.

He said liberalizing CKD (fully deactivated) imports would encourage the EU’s OEMs to set up local assembly lines, adding that it acts as a stepping stone, moving foreign OEMs from “imports” to “assembly” and eventually to “full localization” as they build local supply chains.

“This brings high-end manufacturing processes, quality standards and advanced R&D practices to the Indian ecosystem. It will also create new demand, benefit consumers by expanding options with faster access to global models. It will also improve safety and technology standards,” Mr. Goyal said.