India and UK sign free trade agreement, PM Modi says farmers, MSMEs will benefit

India and the United Kingdom on Thursday signed a Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement.

The free trade agreement was signed by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and his British counterpart Jonanthan Reynolds during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United Kingdom.

“Today marks a historic day in our bilateral relations,” Modi said in a press statement beside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer after the signing. He said that the agreement aimed to benefit Indian farmers, the micro, small and medium enterprises sector, footwear and jewellery exports, as well as the seafood and engineering goods sectors.

Modi also said that British medical devices and aerospace parts would be more easily sold in India.

Starmer, on his part, said that the trade deal would help British workers in cutting-edge manufacturing, and would also benefit whiskey distillers across Scotland and the service sector in London, Manchester and Leeds.

The UK prime minister said that the agreement was “the biggest and most economically significant” trade deal the United Kingdom has made since Brexit – when Britain exited the European Union in 2016.

The UK government said that the trade deal was set to increase bilateral trade between the two countries by nearly 39% in the long run, The Indian Express reported.

This would be equivalent to $34 billion a year compared with the projected 2040 levels of trade in the...

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