India, four nation European bloc to sign free trade agreement on March 10

India and the four-nation European bloc EFTA will sign a free trade agreement on Sunday with an aim to boost two-way trade in goods, services and investments, an official said.

The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

The pact received approval from the Union Cabinet on March 7, the official said.

India and EFTA have been negotiating the pact, officially dubbed as Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), since January 2008 to boost economic ties.

The agreement has 14 chapters, including trade in goods, rules of origin, intellectual property rights (IPRs), trade in services, investment promotion and cooperation, government procurement, technical barriers to trade, and trade facilitation.

EFTA has 29 free trade agreements (FTAs) with 40 partner countries, including Canada, Chile, China, Mexico, and Korea.

Under free trade pacts, two trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them, besides easing norms to promote trade in services and investments.

EFTA countries are not part of the European Union (EU). It is an inter-governmental organisation for the promotion and intensification of free trade. It was founded as an alternative for states that did not wish to join the European community.

India's exports to EFTA countries during 2022-23 stood at $1.92 billion against $1.74 billion in 2021-22. Imports aggregated at $16.74 billion during the last fiscal compared to $25.5 billion in 2021-22.

The trade gap is in favour of EFTA, according to the commerce ministry data.