The long road to India's free trade deal with the EU

Trade ministers from the European Union will meet Indian officials next week for talks on a free trade agreement (FTA). While the geo-political environment is favourable for the deal, dubbed as the mother of all FTAs that India is negotiating, it will be a difficult trick to pull off. Why is the free trade deal crucial for India? The EU is India's second-largest export market after the US, but the share of the continent in India's overall goods exports has been declining in the past two decades. This has happened largely on account of a slew of non-tariff barriers imposed…