MONTREAL / BRUSSELS — Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Brussels in December to formally sign India's free trade agreement with the European Union, European Council President António Costa announced on Thursday, putting a date on the closing step of one of the largest trade deals either side has ever concluded.
Source: ANI via News Central TV
The pact links India with the EU's 27 countries in a single market of more than two billion people — yaani over 200 crore people — accounting for about a quarter of the world economy.
"Prime Minister Modi will come in December to sign the deal," Costa said at an event organised by the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations in Canada, where he is attending a two-day EU–Canada summit. Modi's visit is expected shortly before European leaders gather in Brussels for a meeting scheduled to begin on December 17, according to the reports.
A deal 19 years in the making
India and the EU first began negotiating a trade agreement in 2007. The talks were concluded at the political level on January 27, 2026, at the 16th India–EU Summit in New Delhi, which Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attended. The European Commission later proposed a fast-track approval process, including proceeding on the English-language text, so that legal and translation steps do not push the signing past the end of the year, ANI reported.
What India — and Punjab's exporters — stand to gain
Under the agreement, India is expected to gain preferential or duty-free access to the European market for more than 99 per cent of its exports by value. The sectors named in the reporting as the biggest beneficiaries include textiles, leather, and gems and jewellery — industries with deep roots in Punjab, from Ludhiana's hosiery and textile units to the state's leather and jewellery exporters, for whom Europe is a premium market.
Signing is not the final step. David McAllister, who chairs the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, said during a recent visit to India that the signing is expected in mid-December, after which the European Parliament's consent — anticipated in a vote next spring — and ratification on both sides are still required before the pact takes effect, with entry into force projected for mid-2027, Mirror Now reported. Separate India–EU negotiations on investment protection and geographical indications are continuing alongside the trade deal.
For readers in Canada and the wider diaspora, the December signing also lands in a season of trade realignment: Costa made the announcement in Montreal during an EU–Canada summit focused on strengthening ties, as countries on several continents redraw trade routes in response to US tariffs.