London [UK], July 25 : Ashish Kumar Chauhan, MD & CEO of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), has said that the India-UK trade deal should become a template for India's other trade deals with like-minded countries. He termed the deal a harbinger of things to come under new geopolitical realities, where multilateralism is gradually moving away.
"This is the first deal post Brexit, what I call the gradual moving away from multilateralism; that, in a way, (US President) Donald Trump kickstarted. So, India-UK Free Trade Agreement should become a template for India's deals with other important like-minded countries like the US, the EU or Japan," Chauhan told ANI.
The India-UK Free Trade Agreement was signed and formalised on Thursday during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UK.
"We already have an FTA with Australia. But this is coming post the new Labour Government took over and this deal actually was negotiated initially with the Conservative Government and then last year, when the Labour Government came into play, many people thought this may not be working out. But post-Donald Trump inauguration in January, I think things have changed very suddenly. The changes have accelerated," the MD & CEO of NSE said.
He said that the geopolitical framework is changing extremely fast in the new situation.
"Tectonic plates of geopolitics are now suddenly moving and economic plates are also going to have many earthquakes...In a new way, the new world order where China is trying to assert itself as the middle kingdom or the centre of the earth and the US or EU are trying to keep their influence intact - that's where I think India has come into play, the right place at the right time," Chauhan said.
The agreement was signed by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds in the presence of Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the UK.
This FTA marks a significant milestone in India's engagement with major developed economies and reflects a shared commitment to strengthening economic integration. As the world's fourth- and sixth-largest economies respectively, India and the UK's bilateral engagement holds global economic significance.
The signing of the India-UK CETA follows the successful conclusion of negotiations announced on 6th May 2025. The bilateral trade between the two countries stands at nearly USD 56 billion, with a joint goal to double this figure by 2030.
CETA secures unprecedented duty-free access for 99 per cent of India's exports to the UK, covering nearly the entire trade basket. This is expected to open new opportunities for labour-intensive industries such as textiles, marine products, leather, footwear, sports goods, toys, and gems and jewellery, alongside fast-growing sectors like engineering goods, auto components, and organic chemicals.