India-UK FTA bypasses China’s dependence, navigates US tariffs: SBI report

New Delhi: India and the United Kingdom have signed a landmark free trade agreement (FTA), momentous not only in quantitative magnitude — encompassing reductions across 90 per cent of tariff lines — but also in its emblematic stature as a recalibration of post-globalisation economic strategy, an SBI report said on Wednesday.

The FTA signal a new global trade strategy, bypassing China’s dependence, navigating US tariffs and reshaping post BREXIT Britain.

The FTA takes place in the backdrop of growing economic relations between India and the UK as exemplified in the bilateral trade of about $60 billion which is projected to double by 2030.

India’s exports in FY25 outpaced a 6.1 per cent contraction in imports. The FTA, spanning goods, services, and technology, seeks to foster inclusive growth, resilient supply chains, and employment generation, according to the report by State Bank of India’s Economic Research Department.

Liberalisation in the UK sectors such as IT, finance, education, and consumer goods unlocks labour-intensive export potential in Indian industries like textiles, toys, marine products, and auto components.

“While immigration policy remains static, the accord enables select professional mobility – around 1,800-2,000 visas annually for chefs, musicians, and yogis—fusing economic pragmatism with cultural diplomacy,” said the report.

Milestone features include expanded access to telecom and renewables, digital trade facilitation, emphasis on green goods, reciprocal social security arrangements, and UK access to Indian public procurement as class-2 suppliers.

Concurrently, India advances negotiations with the EU, Australia, Peru, Sri Lanka, and Oman, and reviews existing pacts with South Korea and ASEAN — signalling a broader strategic reconstitution of its global trade architecture.

“India-UK FTA is not merely a transactional accord but a dialectical moment in the evolution of twenty-first-century trade philosophy—where national interest and moral purpose converge in a new synthesis of strategic liberalism,” the report noted.

India has signed 13 FTAs with its trading partners. The country is currently negotiating the following FTAs with its trading partners: India-EU FTA, India Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), India-Peru Trade Agreement, covering goods, services and investment, India-Sri Lanka Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) and India-Oman FTA.

Moreover, India has also initiated review of its existing FTAs, namely, India-South Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), and ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA).

IANS