India, Spain agree to advance talks on interoperability of payment platforms
This story was originally published at 19:53 IST on 20 July 2026
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NEW DELHI – India and Spain have agreed to advance technical discussions on interoperability between New Delhi's Unified Payments Interface and Madrid's Bizum digital payments platform, the commerce ministry said in a press release late Saturday. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal concluded a five-day visit to Spain, Belgium, Finland, and Estonia from Jul. 13-18.
During the visit, he held multiple high-level engagements with ministers, senior government leaders, business executives and industry stakeholders across the four countries. The visit aimed to deepen India's economic partnership with Europe, expand investment linkages, strengthen technology cooperation and promote greater business-to-business engagement, while building on the momentum generated by the successful conclusion of the India–European Union free trade agreement negotiations, it said.
India and the EU have agreed to sign the final documentation for the free trade agreement by the end of 2026 and hope to operationalise it between February and March 2027. The trade deal offers tariff concessions on over 95% of the value of exports for both sides.
During his visit to Spain, Goyal proposed an annual India–Spain Joint Commission meeting with business participation, while Spain proposed establishing a dedicated "India Team" to facilitate bilateral engagement. Goyal held discussions with Spain's First Vice-President and Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo Caballero and Industry and Tourism Minister Jordi Hereu Boher.
"Discussions also covered investment facilitation, mobility of professionals and joint investments in Latin America, leveraging Spain's strategic position as India's gateway to Europe and Latin America," the ministry said. While addressing the India–Spain Business Forum, Goyal called upon businesses to forge early partnerships to maximise opportunities arising from the India–EU trade agreement and detailed an ambitious "10×10×10" vision to increase bilateral trade, investment and tourism tenfold over the next decade.
In Goyal's meetings with European Council President Antonio Costa, European Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic, and other officials, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to work towards the early signing and implementation of the India–EU trade agreement, it said. "The discussions also covered negotiations on the Investment Protection Agreement and the Geographical Indications Agreement, cooperation on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), regulatory simplification, market access for agricultural products, duty derogation for Basmati rice, steel scrap etc.," it said.
With India-EU trade deal, the two sides aim to double their bilateral trade by 2032. India-EU trade was worth nearly $139 billion in 2025-26 (Apr-Mar), up 9.5%. End
US$1 = INR 96.45
Reported by Pratiksha
Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury
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