India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) Comes into Effect Today

The India-European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) comes into effect from today. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in a statement, said that the agreement was signed on the 10th of March last year in New Delhi. EFTA is an important regional group with several growing opportunities for enhancing international trade in goods and services.
 
 
EFTA countries are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, and among them, Switzerland is the largest trading partner of India, followed by Norway. Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement is a modern and ambitious agreement that incorporates, for the first time in any Free Trade Agreement signed by India which is a commitment linked to investment and job creation. Our correspondent has the details.
                                                                     
 
The agreement focuses on market access related to goods, trade facilitation, investment promotion, market access to services, intellectual property rights, trade and sustainable development. Under it, EFTA’s market access covers 100 percent of non-agricultural products and tariff concessions on Processed Agricultural Products. The agreement also offers a binding commitment of 100 billion US dollars investment in India in the next 15 years. It will also facilitate the generation of one million direct jobs through such investment. The TEPA will empower India’s exporters by providing access to specialised inputs and creating a conducive trade and investment environment. This would boost exports of Indian made goods as well as provide opportunities for the services sector to access more markets. 
 
According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, a dedicated EFTA Desk has also been operational since February this year, which is a single-window mechanism for investment facilitation to support EFTA businesses in investing, expanding, and establishing operations in India. The Desk will also act as the primary channel for fostering continuous business-government dialogue, ensuring continuous engagement between India and EFTA partners.