Overview
- A week-long New Delhi round concluded with substantive convergence across chapters covering goods, services, investment, sustainable development, rules of origin, and technical barriers to trade.
- Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal held a Nov. 5–6 stocktake with EU DG Trade Sabine Weyand to assess progress and address outstanding issues.
- Officials report 10 of 20 chapters are finalised and another 4–5 are broadly decided, indicating more than half the text now aligned.
- Both sides agreed to shift to continuous chief‑negotiator engagement with intensified political-level talks to fast‑track an agreement targeted for end‑2025, with an EU Trade Commissioner visit signalled for late November or early December.
- India pressed for predictability in the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and proposed steel regulation to avoid trade distortions for its exporters.