India-UK FTA implementation could be some time away

The implementation of India's free trade agreement with the UK could take as long as 15 months from now but efforts would be undertaken to fasten the process.

According to sources, while negotiations for the India-UK FTA have been concluded, the text of the agreement would be out after around three after lengthy legal scrubbing by both countries. The FTA has 26 chapters and the legal scrubbing would be done jointly by India and UK.

Following that, the FTA would be approved by both countries. While in India it would require approval of the Union Cabinet, in the UK it would have to be ratified by the Parliament.

"This can take upto one year but the effort would be to try and make it faster," said a person familiar with the development.

India and the UK had on May 6 announced the successful conclusion of the FTA negotiations that would helo double bilateral trade to $120 billion by 2030.

While the FTA and the Double Contributions Convention (DCC) will be signed together, the bilateral investment treaty is still under negotiation and will be signed separately, sources explained.

"The BIT is being negotiated by the department of economic affairs in the ministry of finance. A lot of work has been done on it but it will be signed separately," said the source.

India and the UK are extremely optimistic about the benefits of the trade deal, which is between the fifth and sixth largest economies of the world and will help open opportunities for more bilateral trade.