What Is the India-UK Enhanced Trade Partnership and What Does It Mean for Buyers?
UK businesses sourcing from India have been watching the India-UK trade relationship develop for years — through the Enhanced Trade Partnership announced in 2021, through fourteen rounds of FTA negotiations, and through a succession of deadlines that came and went. That period is now over. The India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement — officially the CETA — was signed in July 2025 and enters into force on 15 July 2026. If you are sourcing goods from India, the tariff landscape changes in four weeks. This post explains what has changed, what it means for your landed costs, and what practical steps UK importers should take before and after the agreement goes live.
Quick Answer
The India-UK Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP) was a 2021 framework that laid the groundwork for deeper trade ties. The India-UK CETA — the full Free Trade Agreement — was signed in July 2025 and enters into force on 15 July 2026. Under the CETA, 99 percent of Indian tariff lines will reduce to zero duty for UK exports to India, and UK importers will see tariff reductions across Indian goods covering nearly 100 percent of trade value. For most UK buyers sourcing from India, this is the most significant tariff change since Brexit.
The ETP and the CETA — What Is the Difference?
The Enhanced Trade Partnership, announced jointly by the UK and Indian governments in May 2021, was not a trade agreement in the legal sense. It was a framework — a political commitment to deepen the trade relationship, with specific early-action commitments on professional qualifications recognition, data adequacy, and targeted tariff reductions in a limited number of categories. For most UK importers, the ETP produced limited direct impact. Its significance was structural: it formally initiated the FTA negotiation process and provided a diplomatic pathway for the talks that followed.
The CETA is the agreement the ETP was designed to lead to. It is a comprehensive legal instrument covering goods, services, investment, intellectual property, and — unusually for a trade agreement — a dedicated chapter on women and gender equality. It took fourteen formal rounds of negotiation and nearly three years of talks before it was finalised in May 2025, signed in July 2025, and ratified ahead of its 15 July 2026 entry into force date.
Why the Distinction Matters for Buyers
The distinction matters because UK buyers have sometimes conflated ETP commitments with CETA benefits. The ETP produced no broad tariff changes for most goods categories. The CETA does. Any tariff planning, landed cost modelling, or sourcing decisions that referenced ETP commitments as though they were CETA-equivalent were working from an incomplete picture. From 15 July 2026, the CETA’s tariff schedule is the operative document — and it represents a step change from the ETP’s limited early concessions.
What the CETA Actually Does for UK Importers
The headline figure is that 99 percent of Indian tariff lines — covering nearly 100 percent of India’s trade value with the UK — will reduce to zero duty under the CETA. For UK importers, this translates to reduced landed costs across a wide range of Indian-origin goods. The Indian government has described an expected tariff advantage of 7 to 10 percentage points for Indian exporters, bringing India to parity with several countries that already enjoyed zero-duty access to the UK market post-Brexit.
Categories Benefiting from Day One
Indian goods expected to benefit from immediate tariff elimination on 15 July 2026 include textiles and garments, leather goods, marine products, gems and jewellery, chemicals, engineering goods, and auto components. Natural stone — granite, marble, and related quarried products — is covered within the broader engineering and materials categories. UK buyers sourcing Indian granite, stone products, or related materials should verify the specific HS code applicable to their product against the CETA tariff schedule once formal customs notifications are published, as the Indian and UK governments have both committed to making concessions available from day one of entry into force.
Not all categories move immediately to zero. Some sectors see phased tariff reductions over five to ten years. Pharmaceutical products, medical devices, and certain technology goods are subject to phased schedules. For buyers in these categories, the CETA does not produce immediate day-one savings — but it does create a confirmed, legally binding trajectory toward zero duty that can inform multi-year sourcing planning.
What UK Exporters Get in Return
India has opened 89.5 percent of its tariff lines under the CETA, covering 91 percent of UK exports by value. UK goods with significant new access include Scotch whisky and gin — where Indian tariffs have been among the highest globally — automotive products, medical devices, cosmetics, aerospace components, and food products including lamb and salmon. For UK businesses with export interests in India alongside import interests, the CETA creates a genuinely two-directional opportunity.
The DCTS Complication — What UK Importers Need to Know
There is one complication that UK importers sourcing from India need to understand before assuming the CETA delivers immediate savings from 15 July. India began graduating out of the UK’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) for certain goods from 1 January 2026. This graduation — which reflects HMRC’s assessment that specific Indian-origin goods are now competitive enough to stand without preferential support — means that some categories that previously benefited from DCTS preferential tariffs temporarily lost that preference before the CETA entered into force.
For goods affected by DCTS graduation, the period between 1 January 2026 and 15 July 2026 has meant paying full customs duty. The CETA’s entry into force on 15 July is expected to restore — and in most cases improve on — the tariff position that existed before DCTS graduation. But importers who have been paying full duty since January 2026 on graduated goods should verify their specific HS codes against the CETA schedule to confirm the day-one tariff position for their products.
The practical step is to confirm the applicable tariff rate for your specific product category through the UK Global Tariff tool once CETA-specific tariff notifications are published around 15 July 2026. HMRC will update the tariff schedules to reflect the CETA preferential rates as the agreement enters into force.
The Double Contributions Convention — Relevant for Buyers with India Operations
Alongside the CETA, the UK-India Double Contributions Convention (DCC) enters into force on the same date — 15 July 2026. The DCC is relevant for UK businesses who send employees to work temporarily in India, or who employ Indian nationals temporarily in the UK. It prevents dual social security contributions — the situation where a worker paying into the UK National Insurance system is also required to contribute to India’s social security system for the same employment period.
The DCC extends the exemption period to 60 months, which is longer than the typical 24-month arrangement the UK holds with most other countries. For UK companies with regular staff movement between the UK and India — whether for project work, supplier oversight, or regional management — this is a direct reduction in employment cost that takes effect from 15 July alongside the goods tariff changes.
What UK Buyers Sourcing from India Should Do Before 15 July 2026
With the CETA entry into force four weeks away at the time of writing, UK importers with active Indian sourcing relationships have specific practical steps to take now rather than after the fact.
Confirm Your HS Codes
The tariff benefit you receive under the CETA depends on the HS code assigned to your specific product. Misclassification has always been a customs risk — the CETA introduces an additional reason to get classification right, because the preferential rate applies only to the correct classification. If you have any uncertainty about the HS code for your Indian-origin goods, confirm with a licensed customs broker before 15 July.
Understand the Rules of Origin
CETA preferential tariffs apply only to goods that meet the agreement’s rules of origin — meaning the goods must be genuinely of Indian origin, not simply shipped through India from a third country. For processed goods, the rules of origin specify the degree of transformation required in India for the goods to qualify. Your Indian supplier should be able to provide a certificate of origin or a supplier’s declaration of origin that meets the CETA’s specific requirements. Generic certificates of origin issued by Chambers of Commerce may not meet CETA-specific format requirements — confirm this before assuming preferential treatment will be granted automatically.
Review Your Supplier Agreements
If your contracts with Indian suppliers reference current duty rates in the pricing structure — for example, if duty is absorbed into the agreed landed price — the CETA tariff change creates an opportunity to renegotiate. Duty savings that flow through to the buyer improve landed cost. Duty savings absorbed into supplier margin without renegotiation do not. Review existing agreements before 15 July with this question in mind.
Understanding how a structured sourcing relationship with an Indian export partner is governed — from specification lock through to documentation and post-delivery accountability — is something the NexaCrest How We Work framework covers in detail. The CETA changes the tariff environment. The operational discipline of sourcing from India well does not change with it.
What the CETA Does Not Change
A trade agreement removes tariff barriers. It does not remove the operational risks of international sourcing — quality inconsistency, documentation failures, communication gaps, and post-shipment accountability problems. These are supplier and process issues. The CETA makes Indian-origin goods cheaper to land in the UK. It does not make poorly governed sourcing relationships better governed.
UK buyers who have avoided Indian sourcing because of operational concerns — rather than tariff concerns — will find the CETA an improved cost environment to start, but not a solution to the operational challenges that require a different approach entirely. The NexaCrest approach to structured Indian export is built around precisely those operational controls — the ones a trade agreement cannot provide. If you are considering Indian sourcing for the first time or expanding existing sourcing in response to the CETA, the NexaCrest divisions page explains what categories we currently operate in and how our accountability framework is structured.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between the India-UK ETP and the CETA?
The Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP), announced in 2021, was a political framework committing both countries to deeper trade ties and initiating FTA negotiations. It produced limited direct tariff benefits for most UK importers. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is the full legal FTA — signed in July 2025, entering into force 15 July 2026 — that delivers broad tariff elimination across 99 percent of Indian tariff lines and covers goods, services, investment, and professional mobility.
When does the India-UK CETA enter into force and when can buyers start claiming preferential tariffs?
The CETA enters into force on 15 July 2026. Both the Indian and UK governments have confirmed they are working to ensure customs notifications and processes are in place so that exporters and importers can claim preferential tariff rates from day one — 15 July itself. Importers should verify the applicable rate for their specific HS code through the UK Global Tariff tool once CETA-specific rates are published, and ensure they have the correct rules of origin documentation from their Indian suppliers before claiming preferential treatment.
Do all Indian goods qualify for zero duty under the CETA from 15 July 2026?
Not all goods move to zero duty immediately. The CETA covers 99 percent of Indian tariff lines, but some categories are subject to phased reductions over five to ten years rather than immediate elimination. Pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and certain technology products have phased schedules. Goods in categories such as textiles, leather, engineering goods, chemicals, gems and jewellery, and natural stone products are expected to benefit from immediate or early tariff reductions. Confirm the specific schedule for your HS code before planning on day-one savings.
If you source or are considering sourcing natural stone, granite, or other Indian-origin materials for the UK market and want to understand how a structured sourcing process operates alongside the new CETA tariff environment, the NexaCrest contact page is the direct route to a same-day response.