"The wine and spirits working group got more concrete language than the tariff schedules.
That tells you everything."
This tracker cites only official sources — PIB, EU Commission, and treaty text. No speculation. No assumptions. Every claim is linked.
Both sides opened their markets. The numbers tell different stories.
| Sector | Duty Range | Immediate Duty-Free (% Lines) | India's Exports to EU ($M) | Phased (% Lines) | Phased Export Value ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marine Products | Up to 26% | 94.4% | 239.0 | 1.9% | 673.2 |
| Chemicals | Up to 12.8% | 59.3% | 13,683.6 | 39.1% | 354.0 |
| Plastic / Rubber | Up to 6.5% | 62.7% | 2,556.4 | 37.3% | 109.5 |
| Leather / Footwear | Up to 17% | 100% | 2,511.4 | 0% | 0 |
| Textiles | Up to 12% | 100% | 1,636.0 | 0% | 0 |
| Apparel & Clothing | Up to 12% | 100% | 5,706.3 | 0% | 0 |
| Gems & Jewellery | Up to 4% | 96.6% | 2,661.3 | 3.4% | 1.1 |
| Base Metals | Up to 10% | 79.1% | 3,350.6 | 20.9% | 164.7 |
| Railway/Aircraft/Ships | Up to 7.7% | 88.2% | 232.9 | 11.8% | 0.3 |
| Furniture & Consumer Goods | Up to 10.5% | 94.2% | 817.7 | 5.8% | 5.0 |
| Toys | Up to 4.7% | 100% | 58.8 | 0% | 0 |
| Sports Goods | Up to 4.7% | 100% | 43.6 | 0% | 0 |
| Total | — | — | 33,497.6 | — | 1,307.8 |
Three chapters analysed in depth. Every finding is cited to a specific article number.
The procedural shell is agreed. The actual tariff numbers — which goods, what rates, what timeline — live entirely in blank annex placeholders. The staging category in Article 2.3(e) literally reads "0 to [X] years."
India secured 144 sectors from EU, offered 102 to EU. The ITM/Ayurveda win — the headline Indian gain — has a member-state opt-out in footnote 14 that could hollow it out entirely. The MFN clause expires in 5 years, explicitly tied to Indian student work rights in Europe.
India held its two red lines — compulsory licensing and exhaustion doctrine. But the enforcement chapter is TRIPS-plus, handing IP rights holders powerful new tools in Indian courts. The TKDL is named in the treaty but carries no binding obligation on EU patent examiners to use it.
The actual substance of this agreement — tariff numbers, services schedules, specific commitments — lives in annexes. These are their current status. Updated as official data is released.
| Annex | What it contains | Status | Last updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annex 2A-a | India's Schedule of Tariff Commitments — actual goods, duty rates, staging timelines | ⧖ Pending | Jan 27, 2026 |
| Annex 2A-b | EU's Schedule of Tariff Commitments — actual goods, duty rates, staging timelines | ⧖ Pending | Jan 27, 2026 |
| Annex 3A | Product Specific Rules of Origin — how "Made in India" is determined product by product | ◑ Partial | Jan 29, 2026 |
| Annex 8B (India) | India's Schedule of Specific Commitments on Services — which sectors, what conditions | ⧖ Pending | Jan 27, 2026 |
| Annex 8B (EU) | EU's Schedule of Specific Commitments on Services — which sectors, what conditions | ⧖ Pending | Jan 27, 2026 |
| Annex 9A | Financial Services Commitments — banking, insurance, UPI access | ◑ Partial | Jan 29, 2026 |
| Annex 10A | Temporary Movement of Natural Persons — visa categories, duration, conditions | ◑ Partial | Jan 29, 2026 |
| Annex 15A | Government Procurement Schedules — which public contracts are open to each side | ⧖ Pending | Jan 27, 2026 |
On January 27, 2026, India and the European Union announced the conclusion of what both sides called "the largest trade agreement either side has ever signed." European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared a "free trade zone of 2 billion people." India's Commerce Ministry published a 78-question FAQ the same week.
The press releases were confident. The treaty text tells a more complicated story.
The EU Commission's official factsheet states: "Tariffs on 96.6% of EU goods exports will be eliminated or reduced... saving up to €4 billion per year in duties." India's PIB FAQ states the EU has committed to eliminating duties on 70.4% of tariff lines immediately, covering 90.7% of India's export value — with overall coverage reaching 99%+ of trade value.
Both statements are accurate. They are also carefully chosen.
On goods (Chapter 2): The chapter establishes procedures for tariff elimination. The actual tariff schedules — which goods, what rates, what timeline — are in Annex 2A, which remains a blank placeholder. The staging category definition in Article 2.3(e) literally reads "0 to [X] years." The bracket is unfilled. Article 2.7 allows a party facing "unforeseen difficulties" to walk back concessions post-ratification with no hard floor and no arbitration trigger.
On services (Chapter 8): India secured commercially meaningful commitments in 144 sectors from the EU; it offered 102 sectors in return. The headline Indian win — Ayurveda and Indian Traditional Medicine practitioner rights in EU member states — carries a footnote (Footnote 14) that allows each of the 27 member states to individually classify ITM as a regulated profession, requiring a European medical degree and state board registration. The right exists at chapter level and can be extinguished at member-state level. Article 8.6.8 explicitly ties the renewal of India's Most Favoured Nation treatment on services — after a 5-year window — to developments in Indian student work rights and social security portability in Europe.
On intellectual property (Chapter 10): India held its two red lines — compulsory licensing for generic pharmaceuticals (Art. 10.6) and exhaustion doctrine (Art. 10.7). The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library is named in the treaty text as a prior art database (Art. 10.10). But the EU's enforcement chapter delivers TRIPS-plus machinery: Article 10.47(2) requires India to provide legal authority for freezing an alleged IP infringer's bank accounts before any finding of actual infringement. That tool sits uncomfortably alongside the Doha Declaration commitments in the same chapter.
The pattern is consistent across chapters. Every Indian win has a member-state opt-out, a blank annex, or a toothless "shall endeavour to" attached to it. Every EU win has binding, enforceable language with specific article numbers and timelines. This is not necessarily evidence of a bad deal for India — it may reflect a deliberate strategy of buying time on sensitive sectors while securing early wins on goods where India has clear export strength: textiles, apparel, leather, gems. India gave 100% immediate duty-free access on these sectors, and the EU's $33.5 billion in immediate import access for Indian goods reflects that.
But the services chapter — where India's long-term comparative advantage arguably lies — remains in blank annexes. The numbers for IT/ITeS, professional services, and education sector commitments are not yet public.
The full legal text has not been published. The investment protection framework — which foreign companies typically require before committing capital — is explicitly unfinished, noted in commentary as "one crucial legal pillar" still pending. The agreement enters into force only after legal scrubbing, translation into 24 EU languages, and ratification by all 27 member states — a process that historically takes 2–4 years for EU trade agreements.
"On January 27, 2026, India and the EU concluded a framework for a trade agreement. The agreement itself is still being written."
That is a fact. It is not a criticism. Framework agreements that defer substance to implementation are a legitimate negotiating strategy — they allow both sides to declare victory while continuing to negotiate the details. India's 22-year safeguard window, the longest the EU has ever agreed in any of its FTAs, suggests India expects implementation to be contested. The blank annexes will be filled in through a process that is, in many ways, the actual negotiation.
Every claim on this site is sourced to one of the following. No paraphrasing without citation.