The India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Economic Integration Agreement between the Republic of India and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The concept was born out of the 2021 Enhanced Trade Partnership and the India-UK Roadmap 2030, with negotiations initiated in January 2022. The agreement was created to significantly boost bilateral trade, which was valued at approximately £48 billion in 2025, and to strengthen the strategic economic partnership between the two nations. The CETA was formally signed on July 24, 2025, and came into effect on July 15, 2026, after fourteen rounds of negotiations.
The CETA works by eliminating or reducing tariffs on a vast majority of goods and expanding market access for services. A key mechanism is the immediate liberalization of 99% of UK tariffs on Indian goods, granting them duty-free access. In return, India will progressively reduce tariffs on selected UK goods, offering concessions on 89.5% of its tariff lines. The agreement is comprehensive, covering 30 chapters including trade in goods, services across 137 sub-sectors, digital trade, and, for the first time in an Indian bilateral agreement, government procurement. A crucial provision is the accompanying Double Contribution Convention (DCC), which exempts Indian professionals on assignments in the UK from making dual social security contributions for up to five years.
The CETA connects to the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements, as it is deemed compatible with Article XXIV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It also connects to India's policy on intellectual property (IP), with Chapter 13 establishing a comprehensive IP framework that reaffirms the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health. The agreement has not replaced a previous FTA but rather converted the ambition of the 2021 Enhanced Trade Partnership into a formal, operational agreement. India has maintained protection for sensitive sectors like dairy, cereals, and certain automobiles through exclusions or phased tariff reductions.