Risk of bad deal for UK in FTA with India

The government's rushed negotiating strategy for getting a free trade agreement (FTA) with India risks a bad deal, a parliamentary committee has warned. The House of Lords International Agreements Committee said an "arbitrary" deadline to reach an agreement by the festival of Diwali made the approach seem "overly ambitious or unrealistic".
 
The Department for International Trade (DIT) said it was making "good progress" on its bid to finish talks by the deadline.
 
Ministers are desperate to sign new free trade agreements with countries around the world to make up for the damage done to UK trade by Brexit.
 
The Office for Budget Responsibility's latest assessment shows that in the fourth quarter of 2021, goods imports from the EU to the UK were down 18 per cent on 2019 levels, with goods exports from the UK to the EU down 9 per cent. UK service exports to the EU are, meanwhile, down by over 30 per cent, while exports to the rest of the world around 5 and 10 per cent below 2019 levels. Yet trade policy experts are sceptical that the UK can make up for the damage done by Brexit by signing agreements abroad.
 
In the case of India, the Lords international agreements committee warns that "India’s historically protectionist policies, different regulatory approaches and business practices, mean that overcoming barriers would require, in many areas, changes to India’s domestic legislation".