Business World - 25 July 2025
Australia, India likely to finalise expanded FTA soon: Farrell
Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell on Friday said that Australia and India are likely to finalise an expanded Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the near future, though earlier progress was delayed due to domestic political timelines.
Speaking at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Farrell said negotiations to widen the scope of the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) were well advanced before Australia’s federal elections in May.
“If the election had been a week or so later, we might have finalised the agreement,” he said, adding that the electoral process had disrupted the final stages of negotiations.
Farrell also suggested that India’s recent trade focus has been directed towards the United States, particularly concerning tariff exemptions under the Trump administration.
Australia and India signed the ECTA in April 2022, which removed tariffs on a significant portion of traded goods and services. However, key Australian exports such as chickpeas, dairy, and wheat were excluded from the initial deal. Farrell said the broader agreement is being pursued in stages due to domestic sensitivities on both sides.
Bilateral trade between the two countries reached nearly AUD 50 billion (USD 32.9 billion) in 2023, according to Australian government data cited by Bloomberg.
“I think we will get another agreement with India very shortly,” Farrell said.
His comments come days after India and the United Kingdom concluded a landmark FTA, granting 99 per cent of Indian exports duty-free access to the UK. India, in turn, will eliminate tariffs on 90 per cent of British goods, with many concessions taking effect immediately and others phased in over a decade.
Key sectors expected to benefit from the India-UK FTA include textiles, marine products, agricultural goods, leather, automotive, whisky, cosmetics, and medical devices.
