India’s Free Trade Agreement with the UK excludes wines and offers limited relief on beer, while other agricultural products remain unaffected
India has excluded British wines from any import duty concessions and provided only limited relief on UK beer under the newly concluded Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United Kingdom, as confirmed by a senior official, reported timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
The FTA, announced earlier this month, has sparked notable discussions. Under the deal, India will gradually reduce duties on UK whiskey and gin from the current 150% to 75% and further to 40% by the tenth year of the agreement. However, wine remains excluded from this duty cut, which was deemed a strategically important move to avoid setting a precedent for similar demands from the European Union in ongoing trade negotiations.
The agreement, which was finalized on May 6, also excludes several sensitive agricultural products from tariff reductions, including dairy, apples, cheese, oats, and animal and vegetable oils.
The decision to keep UK wines off the duty reduction list comes as India is in advanced talks with the European Union for a separate free trade agreement, where the EU’s influence on the wine segment is significant. Any concession to the UK could have led to EU pressure for similar treatment.
The official also clarified that India’s whiskey makers are unlikely to face significant competition from Scotch whiskey, as the phased duty cuts over ten years will only gradually impact the market, and current import volumes remain low.
While the India-UK trade talks began in 2022, it will take more than 15 months for the agreement to come into effect. Both countries are currently in the process of legal vetting the FTA text, with plans to make the text public by August-September. After this, the FTA will be signed and then proceed through the ratification process in the UK Parliament, a process that may take up to a year.
