India and EU+27 held its virtual summit on 8th May and agreed to resume negotiations for Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and launched comprehensive connectivity partnership. A copy of joint declaration available here with supporting govt media publication.

An ambitious ‘Roadmap 2030’ was adopted at the Summit to elevate bilateral ties to a ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’. The Roadmap will pave the way for a deeper engagement over the next ten years in the key areas of people to people contacts, trade and economy, defence and security, climate action and health. The two Prime Ministers launched an ‘Enhanced Trade Partnership’ (ETP) to unleash the trade potential between the 5th and 6th largest economies of the world and by setting an ambitious target of more than doubling bilateral trade by 2030.

India wants negotiations on bilateral trade and free trade agreement with EU to be pursued parallelly and concluded soon. Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal has written to his counterpart Valdis Dombrovskis last week to initiate the process for resumption of trade & investment negotiations following a decision in this regard arrived at the India-EU Leaders' Summit on May 8. This would involve setting up negotiating groups on different tracks and to begin formal engagement by the two sides. A decision to resume negotiations was a key deliverable of the Porto Summit on 8 May.

The European Union will discuss 5G technology rollouts and the establishment of global security standards when leaders meet with India next month, as concerns grow about the dominance of Chinese telecom giants.  Europe wants to work with democratic partners including India to establish open and transparent standards as nations prepare to move to the new security protocol that should be part of every 5G value chain, Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s antitrust chief said in an interview.

Closer collaboration in areas like digital skilling, research and development and digital technologies can further strengthen India and the European Union (EU) partnership, top industry executives said. Tata Consultancy Services Europe CEO Sapthagiri Chapalapalli said EU-India partnership in digitalisation can create a significant impact. "The EU India relationship is built on solid ground, both sides are constantly discussing how to expand scientific and technological cooperation and are natural partners in digital areas.

The Indian Economy has shown significant resilience amidst the global pandemic and trade shock that began to impact the global economy towards the end of 2019-20 and acquired catastrophic proportions in 2020-21. Secretary, Department of Commerce, Government of India said during the virtual media interaction that the cumulative value of overall exports (merchandise & services) during April-March 2020-21 has been estimated at USD 493.19 Billion compared to USD 528.37 Billion during April-March 2019-20, registering a negative growth of (-) 6.66 percent.

The Measures taken by the Government on the fronts of FDI policy reforms, investment facilitation and ease of doing business have resulted in increased FDI inflows into the country as India has attracted total FDI inflow of US$ 72.12 billion during April to January, 2021. It is the highest ever for the first ten months of a financial year and 15% higher as compared to the first ten months of 2019-20 (US$ 62.72 billion). The trends show that the FDI equity inflow grew by 28% in the first ten months of F.Y. 2020-21 (US$ 54.18 billion) compared to the year ago period (US$ 42.34 billion). 

The Government of India and European Investment Bank (EIB) signed the finance contract for second tranche of Euro 150 million for Pune Metro Rail project through a virtual signing ceremony. EIB had approved the total loan of Euro 600 million to fund the Pune Metro Rail project. The Finance Contract for first tranche of Euro 200 million was signed between GoI and EIB on 22.7.2019. The project aims to provide efficient, safe, economic and pollution-free Mass Rapid Transit System in densely populated area in the city of Pune served with heterogeneous traffic options.