India-UK free trade pact likely to be implemented in April: Report | Economy & Policy News

The India-UK free trade agreement signed in July last year is likely to be implemented by April 2026, according to an official.

India and the UK signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on July 24, 2025, which stipulates that 99 percent of Indian exports will enter the British market at zero duty, while customs duties on British products such as cars and whiskey will be reduced in India.

“We expect the agreement to be implemented from April this year,” the government official said.

The two countries also signed the Double Contribution Convention (DCC) agreement to ensure that temporary workers do not have to duplicate social taxes in both countries.

Both agreements will likely be implemented in parallel, the official said.

The agreement requires the approval of the British parliament to be implemented.

In India, the Union cabinet approves such agreements. Once approved by the British parliament, the bill will be implemented on a mutually agreed date.

The House of Commons in the UK held a debate on the India-UK CETA earlier this week.

Chris Bryant, Secretary of State at the Department for Business and Trade, stressed on behalf of the Labor government that CETA was a significant achievement and that it “goes far beyond India’s precedent in opening doors to UK businesses”.

The British Parliament is approving the deal, including debates in both Houses (the House of Commons and the House of Lords) and reviews by committees on all aspects of the deal, before it is implemented in the coming months.

CETA aims to double the $56 billion trade between the world’s fifth and sixth largest economies by 2030.

While India will open its market to various consumer goods such as chocolate, biscuits and cosmetics, it will gain greater access to export products such as textiles, footwear, gems and jewellery, sporting goods and toys.

According to the agreement called CETA, customs duties on Scotch whiskey will be reduced from 150 percent to 75 percent immediately and to 40 percent by 2035.

India will reduce import duties on automobiles to 10 percent within five years from the current 110 percent under a gradually liberalized quota system.

In return, Indian manufacturers will get access to the electric and hybrid vehicles market in the UK within the quota framework.