India-EU FTA: Will Turkish goods enter India under the newly signed trade agreement? & more related News Here

India and the EU recently announced the conclusion of the agreement that has been called the “mother of all deals”, but an important question remains: will Turkey be able to repatriate its goods to India under the agreement? Officials have clarified that while Indian products can enter Turkey through Europe, Turkish goods cannot enter India under FTA terms, even if shipped through EU ports. “Our goods go to the EU, and then they can go to any country with which the EU has a customs union, but Turkiye will not benefit from that because it is not part of the EU as a territory in the FTA. Therefore, Turkiye cannot export to India and avail concessions,” said an official, who did not want to be identified.Under the EU-Turkey Customs Union, Ankara is required to align with the EU’s common external tariff, meaning that when the EU reduces tariffs for an FTA partner like India, Turkey must extend the same tariff benefits to Indian goods.This is due to Turkey’s status in the association arrangement with the European Union, which has been in place since 1996. This arrangement allows industrial goods and processed agricultural products to move freely between the EU and Turkey without tariffs or quotas, while requiring Turkey to apply the EU’s common external tariff on imports from third countries. However, the customs union does not extend to primary agriculture, services, investment, government procurement or digital trade. India and the European Union on Tuesday announced the conclusion of negotiations for an FTA, with the agreement expected to be signed and implemented within the year. Under the deal, preferential market access will be provided on 96.8% of tariff lines, including 99.5% of India’s exports by volume and 90.7% by value to the EU, which will become duty-free. Officials pointed out that although Turkiye is supposed to mirror EU tariff cuts to FTA partners like India, it does not get reciprocal access as it is not a signatory to the India-EU agreement. “However, Turkish goods cannot use the India-EU FTA for duty-free entry into India, even if they are shipped through EU ports. They remain Turkish in origin and hence do not meet the rules of origin under India’s FTA, which is signed with the EU, not Turkey,” Ajay Srivastava, co-founder of Global Trade Research Initiative, was quoted as saying by ET. The clarification comes amid strained relations between New Delhi and Ankara after Turkie supported Islamabad and condemned India’s strikes on terror camps in Pakistan in May under Operation Vermillion. Trade data shows India’s exports to Turkey declined by 14.1% to $5.71 billion in 2024-25 from $6.65 billion in the previous financial year, while imports from Turkey fell by 20.8% to about $3 billion. Turkey’s share in India’s total exports of $437 billion in 2023-24 was about 1.3%. India’s exports to Turkey include mineral fuels and oils, electrical machinery and equipment, automobiles and parts, organic chemicals, pharmaceutical products, tanning and dyeing articles, plastics and rubber, cotton, man-made fibers and filaments, and iron and steel. Imports from Turkey include marble blocks and slabs, fresh apples, gold, vegetables, lime and cement, mineral oils, chemicals, natural or cultured pearls, and iron and steel.