India is keen to have a free trade agreement with the European Union, and the process could be fast-tracked if the focus remains on business and trade issues and not on extraneous items falling outside the remit of FTA, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said at the formation of Federation of European Business in India.

Addressing the gathering of Ambassadors of various EU countries, Goyal noted that the EU could not force India to sign an FTA like other agreements it has signed with South-East Asian countries.

“We are not a south-east Asian country that the EU signed an FTA with recently, which would be ready to sign on a dotted line for anything as it’s not a democracy,” the minister noted.

Goyal also highlighted concerns surrounding the EU’s carbon tax regulations and deforestation initiatives, which are expected to increase the cost of Indian exports.

“An outcome-oriented trade agreement requires a two-way commercially meaningful agreement; we are confronted with unfair rules of deforestation and CBAM, disrespecting the Paris Agreement,” Goyal said.

Earlier this week, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had called CBAM a unilateral and arbitrary measure.

He highlighted that India was negotiating irrational duties against WTO laws for 5-6 years on steel and aluminium.

“We may have to take other measures, which won't be good. We are looking at larger business, built on commonality and understanding,” he said.

Goyal also noted the problems faced by Indian companies regarding labour issues in the EU, noting that India has only faced one labour problem in a decade.

He also assured the EU partners that India is developing new quality standards, but all Indian standards could not be discarded as inadequate.

“We will introduce new quality standards. Please look at India's quality standards from the lens of a European country and not another country, which may not be providing us equal or commensurate access to my products,” he said.

Goyal noted that FEBI had the potential to become a 1000-member body and advance the cause of FTA between the two countries. The countries had launched FTA negotiations in 2022, after a nine year lull.