The Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) is a comprehensive free trade agreement (concept/provision) signed between the Republic of India and the four member states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA): Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
The origin of the India-EFTA TEPA dates back to 2008, when discussions for a free trade agreement began, with the goal of eliminating or reducing tariffs and liberalizing trade in goods and services. After 16 years of intermittent negotiations, the agreement was signed in New Delhi on March 10, 2024, by India's Commerce and Industry Minister and the trade ministers of the EFTA states. The agreement is set to enter into force on October 1, 2025.
The agreement works through 14 chapters covering areas like trade in goods, trade in services, investment promotion, and intellectual property rights. A key mechanism involves EFTA eliminating or sharply reducing tariffs on approximately 99.6% of India's export value, while India will reduce or remove duties on roughly 95% of EFTA's export value. A significant provision, a first in any Free Trade Agreement signed by India, is EFTA's binding commitment to invest USD 100 billion in India over the next 15 years, which is expected to facilitate the generation of 1 million direct jobs.
The TEPA connects to the broader concept of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and is related to other pacts, such as the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which was signed on July 24, 2025. The EFTA itself is an inter-governmental organization founded by the Stockholm Convention in 1960. A recent change in the agreement's final text was the exclusion of 'data exclusivity' provisions, which was a point of contention during negotiations but ultimately stayed out, safeguarding the ability of the Indian pharmaceutical industry to produce generic drugs.