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Informist, Tuesday, Jul. 7, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – Legal scrub of the free trade agreement between India and the European Union is expected to be completed in the next 15-20 days, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said late Monday, adding that he had very good conversations with his counterpart in Brussels on Sunday. India and the EU will sign the FTA by the end of 2026. 

 

Goyal, addressing the Council for Leather Exports National Export Excellence Awards for 2024-25 (Apr-Mar) in New Delhi, said he would meet his EU counterpart on Jul. 14 and Jul. 15 in Brussels. He would travel with a delegation of businesspersons to Brussels, Spain and Finland, as India had already begun marketing Indian products, goods and services and taking business delegations abroad to ensure that the country and its industry were future-ready, he added.

 

Further, Goyal expressed hope that an FTA could be concluded with Canada by the end of the year, negotiations for which have been happening actively. India is negotiating with the six-country bloc-Gulf Cooperation Council and is also talking to Mexico, Brazil and three other countries associated with it, he said.

 

The minister also referred to engagement with the Southern African Customs Union region, including South Africa and neighbouring countries, as well as Israel, Eurasia, Central Asia, Russia and Chile. He said many countries wanted to enter into FTAs and comprehensive economic partnerships with India, adding that ministers from Ecuador had also expressed interest in an FTA. 

 

Further, the trade minister stressed that the FTAs finalised by India were opening the doors to 38 developed countries and are creating significant new opportunities for the leather and footwear sector. The industry must be ready to derive the maximum benefit from the FTAs India has finalised and from the new markets in developed countries that have opened up for the sector, he said. 

 

Goyal also called upon the leather and footwear industry to target at least $15 billion in exports over the next five to six years, or even earlier, and aim for a three-fold increase in its export performance by leveraging the new FTAs, diversifying markets and strengthening quality, design, branding, sustainability and scale.

 

Goyal said the leather and footwear sector, currently exporting goods worth around $4.0 billion-4.5 billion, has the potential to achieve tremendous transformation. "If I was in your shoes, or in your leather shoes, if I may say so, I would not aspire for anything less than a 3x outcome in the next five to seven years," he said,

 

The minister called for diversification of export destinations, flagging that 77% of India's leather exports currently go to only 15 countries. Goyal urged the industry not to focus only on large markets such as the US, the UK, Germany and Italy, but also look at smaller developed countries, where consumers buy and replace footwear and where designer brands have a market.

 

The leather and footwear industry should use the Export Promotion Mission for warehousing, better and more frequent delegations and exhibitions in major markets, he said. Goyal further urged the industry to tie up with the National Institute of Design for design, the Indian Institute of Packaging for packaging, the Quality Council of India for better quality output and improved testing laboratories, and the Bureau of Indian Standards to improve product standards. End

 

US$1 = INR 95.33

 

Reported by Pratiksha

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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