The first phase of the long-awaited India-US trade deal has been finalised and is now undergoing legal drafting, top government officials said on Thursday, signalling that the agreement is edging toward a conclusion.
Trade Secretary Rajesh Agrawal, addressing a media briefing on trade data, confirmed that the first tranche of the pact had been wrapped up at the negotiating level. “We anticipate concluding and signing the trade deal at the earliest possible time,” he said, adding that New Delhi is seeking preferential market access for its exports along with greater tariff stability — two objectives that have sat at the heart of India’s negotiating stance.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal echoed the assessment at the SRCC Centenary Conclave in the national capital. He said the first tranche “has been finalised… going through final contours, the legal drafting,” and expressed hope that the pact could be operationalised once India secured “comparable advantage or competitive advantage over our peer countries.”
The remarks from Goyal and Agrawal mark the most definitive official confirmation yet that the negotiations have moved beyond the haggling stage into the formal process of giving the understanding legal shape. However, officials were careful to keep expectations measured on the timeline. The actual signing will depend in part on the formalisation of the broader US tariff structure, with parallel work still underway in Washington.
The next steps are also tied to the outcomes of Section 301 investigations being carried out in the United States — a reminder that the deal’s path to signature runs through regulatory and political processes on both sides of the table.
Earlier this week, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar struck an optimistic note at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, observing that the matter was “heading towards a landing point” — language that suggested the two sides had narrowed their remaining differences to manageable scope.
The US administration, for its part, has been more cautious in its public messaging. USTR Jamieson Greer said earlier this month that both sides were working to finalise the agreement, though he cautioned that a deal was not imminent. The diplomatic calendar keeps the channel warm: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to visit India and Uzbekistan from October 17 to 22, a trip that could provide fresh momentum to the engagement.
For Indian exporters and businesses, the stakes are significant. A first-phase deal that delivers preferential access and predictable tariff treatment would open one of the world’s largest markets on steadier terms — exactly the kind of certainty Indian industry has been asking for as global trade conditions remain volatile.
With the draft now being legally vetted, the focus shifts to how quickly the two governments can align the fine print — and the signatures that follow.
