India and the United Kingdom will start their free trade agreement on July 15, 2026. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the date at the G7 summit in France. The pact was signed on July 24, 2025. It aims to double trade to 112 billion dollars by 2030.
Indian exporters will gain duty‑free access for textiles, leather, gems, jewellery, chemicals, toys and electronics. Leather tariffs will fall by 16%, opening 900 million dollars in sales. This move may help India capture 5% of the UK market within two years. Moreover, food products will enjoy zero duty on 99.7% tariff lines. Grapes, nuts, bakery items, sauces, tea, coffee and spices will benefit. Marine product tariffs will drop from 20% to nil. Smartphones, fibre cables and inverters will also gain.
The United Kingdom expects a 4.8 billion pound GDP boost and 2.2 billion pounds rise in real wages. Whisky tariffs will reduce from 150% to 40% over ten years. Automobile tariffs will decline from 110% to 10% under a quota system. However, dairy and cheese remain excluded to protect Indian farmers.
India’s exports to the UK grew 12.4% to 2.4 billion dollars in the first two months of FY27. In FY26, exports fell 7.6% to 13.44 billion dollars, while UK imports rose 36.1% to 11.7 billion dollars.
