Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said, a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the United Kingdom could be ready by Diwali without the need for an interim early harvest agreement, based on how things are going between the two negotiating teams.

The Minister came to London from the World Economic Forum in Davos to assess the situation and meet with stakeholders and industry leaders ahead of the fourth round of FTA talks, which will take place on June 13 in the United Kingdom.

The minister highlighted the FTAs be signed quickly with the UAE and Australia as a hint of things to come during a curtain raiser event on Thursday evening for the biennial UK-India Week by India Global Forum (IGF) scheduled from June 27.

"Canada is making good headway toward reaching an early harvest arrangement. "We agreed to do an early harvest deal with the UK – basically, to take the low-hanging fruits and leave the more tough components for the next stage, giving the people of both nations confidence that this agreement is a win-win," the Minister explained.

Goyal pointed out that, India, as one of the fastest-growing economies of the world, even growing at a “modest 8% every year” would be ten-times from where the economy is now at the least.

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