The Ideas Page: For Delhi and Brussels, challenge is to move from breakthroughs to delivery 9 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2026 JOURNALISm of COURAGE LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES ₹6.00 l www.indianexpress.com DA I LY F R O M : A H M E DA B A D , C H A N D I GA R H , D E L H I , J A I P U R , KO L K ATA , L U C K N O W , M U M B A I , N AG P U R , PAT N A , P U N E , VA D O DA R A SECURITY AND DEfENCE pARTNERSHIp, MOBILITY fRAMEwORK AMONG 13 pACTS India and EU seal the deal FTA: ‘Not just a trade agreement, a new blueprint for shared prosperity... sending a clear message to the world’ Shubhajit Roy & Ravi Dutta Mishra New Delhi, January 27 SEALING WHAT they called “a new blueprint” and the “mother of all deals”, India and the European Union announced Tuesday that they had reached a free trade agreement, “a milestone” in their strategicpartnershiptodeepen economic ties and “drive shared prosperity”. The FTA, clinched after nearly two decades of negotiations between the two sides representing 2 billion people, comes at a time when both India and the EU have been hit by the Trump administration’s steep tariffs, adding urgency to their search for markets elsewhere. The pact, once it is vetted and ratified, will eliminate duties on 99.5% of Indian exports, including textiles and gems, while reducing tariffs on 97% of EU goods, such as cars and wine, to 0% in many cases. Firming up 13 outcomes at their summit meeting in New Delhi, India and the EU signed the conclusion of the FTA negotiations, a security and defence partnership, a mobility framework and a joint IndiaEuropean Union Comprehensive Strategic Agenda 20262030. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking alongside European Council President Antonio Luis Santos da Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said, “Today is another historic occasion, when the world’s two largest democratic powers are adding a decisive chapter to their relations. Today,Indiahasconcludedthe largest Free Trade Agreement in its history so far.” »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 After two decades of negotiations, how the deal was clinched Anil Sasi New Delhi, January 27 THE INDIA-EUROPEAN Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA), nearly two decades in the making, has finally gone through. But there was another point when a trade deal appeared tantalisingly close to fruition — only to be jettisoned. This was 2013, when the 27nation bloc’s chief negotiator, Ignacio García Bercero, was abruptlymovedout,effectively shutting the window of opportunity. The lessons appear to have been learnt this time. Officials on the Indian side testified to a palpable need for urgency, fearing that the impetuscouldbelostandthewindow could close again. The deal attempts to be far more pragmatic. It takes a gradedapproachtocontentious issues such as automobiles, spirits, and has left out agriculture products altogether. And, the key difference from the last time is evolving geopolitics. America’s shadow on global trade and politics has created a broader strategic objective beyond trade gains. E. Shift on Ukraine in joint statement IN A significant departure on Ukraine, India signed off on a joint statement with the EU which said they would support efforts based on the principles of “independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity”. This is an important framing since this goes against what Russia has been asking for. India and the EU have so far differed on Russia’s actions on Ukraine, and these divergences have dominated the Delhi-Brussels discourse over the last four years. PAgE 4 Happening today lTHE BUDGET SESSION begins with President Droupadi Murmu’s address to the joint sitting of both Houses. The Union Budget will be presented on February 1. The government has rejected the Opposition's demand for discussions on the VB-G RAM G Act and the Special Intensive Revision on electoral rolls. lUK pRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer will meet China’s President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang during his visit to Beijing and Shanghai — the first by a British leader since 2018. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPREss.cOm How the deal fell last time The first round of India-EU trade talks was initiated in 2007. By October 2013, New Delhi and Brussels had exchanged offers on tariffs and services, and were focusing on identifying the outlines of a possible agreement for the tricky market-access component of the FTA. ‘EqUITY REGULATIONS’ No discrimination against anybody: Govt after protests on new UGC norms Abhinaya Hargovind, Vikas pathak & Vidheesha Kuntamalla New Delhi, January 27 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with European Council President Antonio Costa (left) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during their meeting at Hyderabad House, in New Delhi, on Tuesday. PTI l INsIDE wHOGAINswHAT,wHATNExT FORINDIA Marine sector Chemical THE EDITORIAL pAGE PAgE 8 FOREU Before FTA After FTA up to 26% 0% up to 12.8% 0% Leather & footwear up to17% 0% Plastic & rubber Textile & apparel Base metal Gems & jewellery up to 6.5% up to 12% up to 10% up to 4% 0% 0% 0% 0% Railway, aircraft, ships up to 7.7% 0% Furniture & light consumer goods up to 10.5% Toys Sports goods up to 4.7% up to 4.7% Before FTA After FTA Motor vehicles 110% 10% (quota of 250k/yr) Wine 150% 20% (premium); 30% (medium) Spirits Beer Olive Oil Kiwis & pears up to 150% 110% up to 45% 33% 40% 50% 0% 10% (in-quota) Machinery & electrical equipment up to 44% 0% for most products 0% Aircraft & spacecraft Iron and steel Pharma up to 11% up to 22% 11% 0% for most items 0% for most items 0% for most items 0% 0% Processed food (bread, up to 50% biscuit, pasta, chocolate, pet-food) 0% l India’s labour-intensive annual exports worth $35 billion benefit immediately ECONOMY PAgE 12 INDIA’S BIggEST CHALLENgE: EU’S REgULATORY REgIME Business as Usual By EP UNNY HOW NEW UgC NORMS SHARPEN PROvISIONS ON CASTE BIAS PAgE 14 seenprotestsbygroups,mostly on social media, claiming that these could be used to “harass” general category students and create “caste divisions”. On Tuesday, some students protestedoutsidetheUGCofficein Delhiseekingthewithdrawalof the regulations. On Monday, Bareilly City Magistrate Alankar Agnihotri announced his resignation citing the regulations, among other reasons, while there were reports of 11 BJP office-bearers inUttarPradeshsteppingdown in protest. Themainobjectionthathas been raised is that there is no provision for penalties in the regulations against “false complaints of discrimination”, and that institutions can be subjected to action for not complying with the regulations. »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 THE BIg PIcTUrE AUTO STOCKS SLUMP, BUT TExTILE COMPANIES CLIMB ExpLAINED PAgE 14 HOW SHIFTINg TRADE WINDS NUDgED INDIA-EU TALKS ACROSS FINISH LINE A carrot story Sikandrabad is now a carrot hub. Meet the former Army man behind this PAgE 13 lDeal expected to come into effect by early next year lSigning of the deal expected later this year A SIgNAL OF FREER TRADE, A gOOD AUgURY AMID PROTESTS over the recently notified “equity regulations” for higher education institutesbytheUniversityGrants Commission (UGC), Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said Tuesday that noonewouldbeallowedtomisusetheprovisionsandthat“discrimination will not be allowed against anybody”. “... Oppression will not be allowed against anybody… therewon’tbediscrimination… Nobody will have the right to misuse (the regulations)... The UGC, Union government or state governments... there will beresponsibility,”Pradhantold mediapersons. The regulations, which were notified on January 13, were “within the ambit of the Constitution” and “done under thesupervisionoftheSupreme Court”, he added. The UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, which replace the 2012 equity regulations of the commission, have ExPlAINED lIndia will receive same flexibility as US on EU’s carbon tax lLegal scrubbing to take 4-5 months SOURCE: COMMERCE & INDUSTRY MINISTRY, EUROPEAN UNION »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 Big swap: Automobiles, wine Mobility pact eases options for labour-intensive goods for Indian students, workers Ravi Dutta Mishra New Delhi, January 27 REFLECTING INDIA’S priority to shore up trade-linked jobs in textiles, footwear and the marinesectoramidtheUStariffhit, andEurope’sbidtoreviveitsindustrial base through automobile exports in the face of Chinese competition in global markets, New Delhi and Brussels closed negotiations on a high-stakes trade-off: EU access for automobiles and wine in return for concessions on In- dia’s labour-intensive sectors. Themarketaccesstrade-off assumes significance as IndiaEU trade talks had collapsed in 2013overmarketaccessnegotiations for automobiles. For India, zero duty on labour-intensive goods brings it at par with competing countries, particularly with Vietnam, which signed a trade agreement with the EU in 2019, which helped it assume a key role in the global supply chain. CommerceMinistryofficials »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 Divya A & Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, January 27 IN A new framework to facilitatemovementofpeople,India and the European Union have signed a mobility pact aimed at easingthemovementofIndian students, workers and professionals across 27 EU member countries. This comes at a time when the US is making H1-B and other visa routes for Indian citizens more expensive, stricter. Under the new framework for mobility, the EU has committed to “an uncapped mobilityforIndianstudents”,according to officials, allowing Indians greater ease to travel, study and work across EU states. There are already around 1.20 lakh Indian students across the EU, with Germany clocking in around 50,000, making Indian studentsthelargestgroupofinternational students in the country. »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 l 38-YEAR-OLD LIKELY TO TURN HIS FOCUS TO INDEPENDENT MUSIC AND COMPOSITION Arijit Singh, Bollywood’s voice of love, says no to playback singing: ‘Wonderful journey’ Suanshu Khurana stepping away from playback singing — a significant turn for a voice that has become insepFOR MORE than a decade in arable from today’s Hindi film contemporaryBollywood,love, industry. “Hello, Happy new year to and very often its loss, learned all. I want to thank you all for to sing through Arijit Singh. In an industry where a song giving me so much love all these years as liscan often communiPAGE 1 teners.Iamhappyto cate what even the announce that I am most intense dianot going to be taklogue cannot, Singh’sgrainy,bruisedbaritone ing any new assignments as a came to signal the heart’s playback vocalist from now on. triumphs and tribulations. On I am calling it off. It was a wonTuesday, in a striking an- derful journey,” he posted. Singh is now likely to turn nouncement on social media, the 38-year-old said he was hisfocustoindependentmusic New Delhi, January 27 anchor ‘Not taking new assignments as a playback vocalist’ and composition, which, he has long maintained, was his original calling. In a conversation with this reporter in 2013, Singh had recalledtellingthelegendarylyricist Javed Akhtar that he wanted to be a composer. “But Javedsaabtoldme,pehlesinger ban jao, phir composer bhi ban jaana (First become a singer, then become a composer as well). I am following his advice…Composerslikemyvoice and I enjoy singing but what I reallyloveisproducingandprogrammingmusic.Oneneedsto have fun with what is being done,” he had said. Singh first came into the spotlight during the reality »CONTINUED ON pAGE 2 Lucknow