The signing of the India–European Union Free Trade Agreement marks not merely the conclusion of a long and complex negotiation, but the emergence of India as a central architect of the twenty-first-century global economic order.Addressing the World Forum of Accountants organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India in Greater Noida, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal described the pact as one of historic scale and consequence—an agreement that touches nearly one-third of humanity and influences roughly a quarter of global GDP.
The sheer size of the agreement explains why the President of the European Commission has reportedly called it the “mother of all deals.” Together, India and the European Union now anchor a trade framework that connects two of the world’s largest and most dynamic markets. For India, the significance lies not only in market access, but in strategic positioning.
The European Union alone imports close to seven trillion dollars’ worth of goods and three trillion dollars in services annually. Against this ten-trillion-dollar opportunity, India’s current export footprint remains modest—an imbalance that, as Goyal underlined, signals potential rather than limitation.
This agreement is also emblematic of a broader recalibration of India’s engagement with globalisation. Over the past four years, India has concluded eight free trade agreements, spanning advanced and emerging economies alike. These include partnerships with the 27-nation European Union, the four-nation EFTA bloc of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Collectively, these agreements reflect a decisive shift away from defensive trade postures towards confident, interest-based economic diplomacy—one that integrates Indian manufacturing, services and talent more deeply into global value chains.
The forward momentum continues. India’s forthcoming trade agreement with Chile, Goyal noted, will be strategically important for securing access to critical minerals—resources that increasingly sit at the intersection of industrial policy, clean energy transitions and national security. Meanwhile, recently concluded agreements are already translating into tangible economic commitments.
The pact with the EFTA countries carries an investment pledge of one hundred billion dollars into India, targeted at infrastructure, innovation and precision manufacturing, with the potential to generate nearly five million jobs. New Zealand’s commitment to invest twenty billion dollars in India over the next fifteen years stands in sharp contrast to its cumulative investment of just seventy million dollars over the previous quarter century.
Such figures, Goyal argued, are not acts of goodwill but expressions of confidence—in India’s macroeconomic stability, its youthful and skilled workforce, and the credibility of its institutions. In a global environment characterised by volatility, uncertainty and fractured supply chains, India has emerged as an “oasis of stability.” Strong growth, relatively low inflation, a resilient banking system and robust foreign exchange reserves have allowed India’s exports of goods and services to continue expanding even amid global trade turbulence.
The minister placed this transformation within a longer arc of national self-belief. In 2014, India was the world’s eleventh-largest economy. A decade later, it stands poised to become the third-largest far sooner than earlier projections suggested.
This shift, Goyal said, was enabled by decisive leadership under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which replaced hesitation with confidence and reframed India’s engagement with the world as one of equality and strategic clarity. Free trade agreements, he emphasised, are no longer instruments of concession but carefully balanced frameworks that advance national interest.
Within this global reorientation, the role of professionals—particularly chartered accountants—assumes strategic importance. As India sets its sights on becoming a developed nation by 2047, the accounting profession is positioned as both an internal stabiliser and an external bridge. With over 5.25 lakh chartered accountants, more than 4.25 lakh of them active professionals across 184 chapters in India and operations in 47 countries, the profession embodies India’s institutional depth and global credibility.
Goyal underscored that chartered accountants are central to sustaining investor confidence through the certification of true and fair accounts, thereby enabling capital flows, partnerships and international expansion. Their rigorous training and multidisciplinary exposure, he argued, allow Indian professionals to perform seamlessly across jurisdictions, cultures and regulatory systems. In an era of global capability centres, cross-border investments and complex trade architectures, this competence becomes a form of soft power.
Looking ahead, the minister called for an expansion of professional ambition. Global exposure, he said, must be integrated into training and curricula, with deeper engagement in international trade, advanced manufacturing and services. No nation can achieve developed-country status in isolation, and India’s professionals must prepare themselves to operate at scale, forge transnational partnerships and move decisively beyond comfort zones during the Amrit Kaal.
The India–EU Free Trade Agreement thus stands as more than a commercial document. It is a statement of intent: that India will shape, rather than merely respond to, the evolving global economic order. If its professionals, institutions and enterprises rise collectively to this moment, the agreement could well become a cornerstone in India’s journey towards a thirty-trillion-dollar economy—and a defining instrument of its ascent as a confident, outward-looking global power.
