India and the EU Are Finally Talking Trade. Here Is Why It Matters.

For more than a decade, EU-India trade talks have been the geopolitical equivalent of a long engagement with no wedding date. Negotiations launched in 2007 were suspended in 2013. A restart in 2022 produced optimism but little progress. Now, with both sides facing a more assertive China and an unpredictable United States, the calculus has shifted.

In July 2025, chief negotiators announced they had resolved 18 of 24 outstanding chapters. The remaining sticking points — agriculture, data localisation, and government procurement — are significant but no longer considered deal-breakers by either side.

What changed is not the economics but the geopolitics. Europe's painful decoupling from Chinese supply chains — accelerated by COVID-19 and the semiconductor wars — has created an urgent need for alternative partners. India, with its 1.4 billion consumers and growing manufacturing base, is the obvious candidate.

For New Delhi, the calculus is equally clear. India's Make in India initiative needs foreign investment and technology transfer. The EU can offer both, without the strategic strings that come with Chinese capital.

Agriculture remains the thorniest issue. India's 600 million farmers are a powerful political constituency, and any perception that European dairy or grain could flood Indian markets would be politically toxic in New Delhi. The EU, meanwhile, insists on geographic indication protections for products like Parmesan and Champagne.

Data localisation is the second major hurdle. India's 2023 Digital Personal Data Protection Act requires certain categories of data to be stored on Indian servers. European companies see this as a barrier to digital services trade; Indian officials frame it as a sovereignty issue.