Overview

• Talks enter their 14th round from Monday as negotiators seek to break deadlocks before the year‑end goal set by Ursula von der Leyen and Narendra Modi.
• The 13th round on September 9–12 delivered limited progress, with divergences persisting on automobiles and agricultural products despite senior EU involvement.
• Eleven chapters are provisionally closed, covering intellectual property, customs and trade facilitation, transparency, good regulatory practices, SMEs, sustainable food systems, dispute settlement, competition and subsidies, digital trade, anti‑fraud practices, and mutual administrative assistance.
• A parallel Investment Protection Agreement is being pursued to create predictable, secure rules for investors and catalyze higher FDI.
• The EU is India’s top trading partner with €120 billion in goods trade and €180 billion including services, and some 6,000 EU firms in India generate €186 billion in turnover and over 3 million direct jobs.