India, UK eye interim pact to help clinch major trade deal
Live MintIndia and the UK are intensifying talks to remove non-tariff barriers and foster greater market access as they work to stitch together the South Asian nation’s first major free trade pact in a decade. The two countries have zeroed in on a list of achievable items that would help the UK showcase the benefits of leaving the European Union while also allowing India to forge new bilateral ties after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government pulled out of a multilateral Asia trade pact in 2019, according to people with the knowledge of the matter in the capital, New Delhi. This would be the first major free trade agreement for India since 2011 when it signed a comprehensive deal with Malaysia, though a minor FTA was inked with Mauritius in February. The proposed agreement, one of the high-priority deals Johnson is hoping to secure -- along with Australia, New Zealand and the US -- is expected to resolve long-pending demands including allowing British legal firms access to the Indian market and a social security pact to ensure India’s skilled professionals don’t have to pay certain taxes in the UK if they’re being paid domestically, the people said.