"The full impact of the decision of Great Britain to leave the European Union may take some time to unfold," said Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. 

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

She further said, "The opportunities for India would depend on Great Britain’s negotiations of terms of exit with the European Union and their future negotiated trade relations."

Talking about India's other Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), the minister said that the Department of Commerce is currently negotiation an FTA with Israel. She said, "The eighth round was held in Israel from 24-26 November, 2013 wherein discussions took place on market access in goods, rules of origin, custom procedures and trade in services. In the subsequent inter-sessional consultations, the focus has been on a balanced outcome in both goods and services."

"Although India is negotiating the India-European Union Broad-based Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (India-EU BTIA) which includes Austria, there are no bilateral negotiations," she further said. 

Eurasian Countries

"A Joint Study Group (JSG) has been set up for considering the feasibility of entering into an FTA between India and Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) comprising of 5 countries namely Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan," she said, adding, "The first meeting of the JSG with EaEU was held on 31stJuly, 2015."

Gulf Countries

A Free Trade Agreement is also being negotiated with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. "The second round of negotiations was held on 9-10 September, 2008 in Riyadh, with the GCC now reviewing all their economic engagements," she said.