The next round of trade negotiations between the UK and India is anticipated shortly

 The next round of trade negotiations between the UK and India is anticipated shortly

The bilateral trade between the United Kingdom and India increased from USD 17.5 billion in 2021–2022 to USD 20.36 billion in 2022–2023. According to an official, India's and the UK's chief negotiators will shortly begin their second round of negotiations for the planned free trade agreement in order to resolve disagreements over things like professional mobility, medical gadgets, and cars. 

This is the fourteenth round of negotiations, and the UK team may come here to conclude as quickly as possible, the official added. "Virtual meetings are becoming better. However, we want to have a full-fledged round of negotiations. Every chapter is discussed by both parties for the whole round. About 60 to 70 sessions take place concurrently, according to the unnamed official. 

Issues that need to be resolved include rules of origin, intellectual property rights (IPRs), social security agreements, duty arrangements on electric vehicles, chocolates, certain ones confections, lamb meat, scotch whiskey, along with the liberalization of requirements in service industries like banking and insurance. Furthermore, talks on the proposed bilateral investment treaty (BIT) are proceeding. The investment agreement is being negotiated separately by India and the UK.

These investment treaties support and safeguard investments made in one another's nations. The primary area of disagreement in this agreement is the dispute resolution process. Investments in one another's nations are protected and promoted via BITs. India has urged that before starting an international arbitration, all local court remedies be used to address issues. The goal of the free-trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between India and the UK was to wrap up by Diwali, which falls on October 24, 2022, however political changes in the UK caused this deadline to be missed. The discussions began in January 2022.

There are 26 chapters in the agreement that address investments, goods, services, and intellectual property rights.

In addition to market access for various commodities at zero customs taxes, the Indian industry is asking more access for its trained people from industries like IT and healthcare in the UK market. 

On the other hand, the UK is requesting a significant decrease in import duties on goods including automobiles, lamb, chocolates, scotch whiskey, and other delicacies. Furthermore, Britain is looking for new opportunities to provide UK services in Indian markets, especially in the fields of telecommunications, legal services, and financial services (banking and insurance). Bilateral trade between the UK and India increased from USD 17.5 billion in 2021–2022 to USD 20.36 billion in 2022–2023. 

The 'rules of origin' section specifies the minimum level of processing that must take place in the FTA nation in order for the produced item to be referred to as originating products in that nation. A nation that has signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with India is prohibited from dumping products from a third party on the Indian market by simply labelling them. In order to export the goods to India, it must carry out a required value addition. Standards for rules of origin aid in preventing the dumping of commodities.