India Accelerates FTA Negotiations Ahead of General Elections
As the general elections in India are expected to be announced soon, the government is working to conclude pending free trade agreement (FTA) talks before the Model Code of Conduct comes into effect. This would allow New Delhi to sign agreements that are currently in advanced stages of discussion.
One such pact is expected to be finalized with the UK and Oman in addition to the FTA scheduled to be inked with EFTA nations on March 10th. Negotiations with these partners are being fast-tracked to meet the impending policy vacuum associated with election season.
The EFTA bloc – consisting of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland – has reportedly agreed to invest $100 billion in key sectors in India over the next 15 years. A major chunk of these investments is anticipated to flow from sizable sovereign wealth and pension reserves present in the EFTA region.
For example, Norway’s $1.6 trillion sovereign wealth fund, cited as the world’s largest pension fund, delivered record profits of $213 billion last year buoyed by its technology stock holdings.
EFTA is also looking at joint ventures in domains like pharmaceuticals, healthcare, chemicals, food processing, and engineering to capitalize on business prospects emerging from the trade deal.
While the investment commitments are expected to aid job creation and manufacturing in India, signing new agreements becomes difficult once the Model Code of Conduct is implemented.
This necessitates concluding negotiations within the existing time window to immediately leverage the economic opportunities.
