EU-India trade agreement 2027: what changes for Indian exporters
The European Union (EU) and India concluded their free trade agreement (FTA) on 27 January 2026. Signing is planned in 2026, and entry into force is expected in the first half of 2027. From then on the EU removes or cuts duties on 99.3% of India’s exports by value. The importer in the EU claims the lower duty, so the company that imports your goods keeps the saving. Your own Dutch company can be that importer.
Ask about your situationThe free trade agreement removes or cuts EU duties on 99.3% of India’s exports by value, and 90.7% become duty-free on the day it enters into force. Signing is planned in 2026, and entry into force is expected in the first half of 2027.
The Indian exporter declares the origin of the goods in a document called a statement on origin. The EU importer uses it to claim the lower duty in its import declaration. When your own Dutch company is the importer, your group controls that claim, the stock in the EU and the sale to EU customers. A company set up before entry into force has its customs registration number (EORI), its value added tax (VAT) number and its import VAT licence ready for the first shipment. The EU carbon border tax (CBAM) applies to Indian steel, aluminium and the other covered goods on the same terms as to goods from other countries.
Tell us what you make or sell, where your company is and what you plan in Europe. Our team looks at it and replies with the steps and the dates that apply to you.
Who does what
We set up and manage your Dutch company, with one contact person for all of it. Partners for customs, CBAM and storage are chosen for each assignment at a price you see first.
Your company
- Your products, your prices and your EU customers
- A statement on origin from your Indian company for every shipment
- Form FC and the Indian filings, with your chartered accountant and your bank
The Dutch company
- Your Dutch company, set up by power of attorney with the notary
- Customs number (EORI), VAT number and the Article 23 application
- The application for authorised CBAM declarant status, for steel and aluminium
- Bookkeeping, VAT returns and annual accounts
Customs, CBAM and storage
- Customs broker for the import declarations and the claim for the lower duty
- Emissions verifier for steel, aluminium and other CBAM goods
- Warehouse and distribution in the Netherlands
Step by step
From exports to EU buyers to your own EU importer, ready before the agreement applies.
- You share your products, volumes and EU customers, and our team replies with the set-up for your company and a quote.
- Your company files Form FC with its authorised dealer bank before the first investment, using the Dutch documents from our team.
- The notary sets up your Dutch company by power of attorney once all documents are complete.
- Your Dutch company applies for its numbers, namely the customs number (EORI), the VAT number and the Article 23 licence. It also applies for CBAM declarant status if it imports steel or aluminium.
- The customs broker declares the first import for your Dutch company, which reports the import VAT in its VAT return.
- Once the agreement applies, your Indian company issues a statement on origin for every shipment, and your Dutch company claims the lower duty in each import declaration.
Status of the EU-India free trade agreement
The EU and India concluded the negotiations on 27 January 2026. On 11 September 2026 the European Commission sent its proposals for signature and conclusion to the Council, where the ministers of the member states decide. Signing is planned in 2026, and the Commission expects entry into force in the first half of 2027.
Every area of the agreement falls within the exclusive competence of the EU, meaning the Union decides on it alone. The Council and the European Parliament therefore approve it on the EU side. The agreement enters into force once India has ratified it as well.
Investment protection and the protection of regional product names, known as geographical indications, are being negotiated in separate agreements.
As of 27 October 2026, the Commission lists the next steps: adoption by the Council, signature, the consent of the European Parliament, a Council decision to conclude the agreement and ratification in India. Dates for signing and entry into force are still open on the EU side. The Government of India said on 21 June 2026, through the news service of All India Radio (AIR), that it plans to sign in December 2026 and to apply the agreement from February or March 2027. That timetable reflects its own planning.
India EU FTA benefits for exporters
The EU removes or cuts duties on 99.3% of India’s exports by value, and 90.7% become duty-free at entry into force. These include textiles and apparel, leather and footwear, tea, coffee, spices, sports goods, toys, gems and jewellery and certain marine products.
A further 2.9% of India’s exports become duty-free over three to five years. For about 6%, including some processed foods, cars, steel and certain shrimp, the EU cuts its duties or sets quotas, which cap the volume that enters at the lower rate. The EU keeps its duties on sugar, rice, beef, poultry, milk powder, bananas and honey.
India, for its part, cuts duties on 96.6% of EU exports by value and lowers its duties on cars step by step from 110% to as low as 10%.
The carbon border tax covers goods made outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland (business.gov.nl, 2026). Importers of Indian steel and aluminium therefore pay it on the same terms as importers of goods from other countries, as explained in CBAM and India.
Tell us what you make or sell, where your company is and what you plan in Europe. Our team looks at it and replies with the steps and the dates that apply to you.
Why the EU importer claims the lower rate
The lower duty applies to goods of Indian origin, which the exporter in India confirms in a statement on origin, a separate document the exporter issues itself. The EU importer then claims the lower duty in its import declaration.
Customs checks a claim with the importer first. The agreement sets out, product by product, when a good counts as Indian in its product-specific rules of origin.
When your EU buyer imports, your buyer claims the lower duty and decides how it shows in the price. When your own Dutch company imports, your group claims the lower duty and keeps the saving in its own margin.
What an EU subsidiary adds for an Indian company
- Your Dutch company controls the claim for the lower duty. As importer, it makes the claim with the statement on origin from your Indian company.
- Your Dutch company can act as importer of record, the company that declares the goods to customs. EU law requires that company to be established in the EU, with a few exceptions such as transit (Union Customs Code, Article 170). The details are in importer of record in the EU.
- Your stock is in the EU, in a warehouse in the Netherlands close to your EU customers. Your company sells across the Union, as described in importing and distributing through the Netherlands.
- Your Dutch company applies for authorised CBAM declarant status itself when it imports more than 50 tonnes a year of steel, aluminium and other covered goods.
- Your Dutch company can apply for the Article 23 licence, a Dutch permit under which it declares the import VAT in its VAT return and deducts it in the same return.
- Your company answers for consumer products in the EU as the EU economic operator, and as importer it puts its name and address on the product (General Product Safety Regulation, Articles 11 and 16).
Set up the company before the agreement enters into force
A Dutch company set up before the agreement enters into force, expected in 2027, is ready for the first shipment at the lower duty. The notary sets up the company by power of attorney, using documents from India that bear an apostille. After registration the company applies for its VAT number, its customs number (EORI) and the Article 23 licence. It also applies for authorised CBAM declarant status if it imports steel or aluminium.
You receive a proposal with the price for your Dutch private limited company (BV), or for a holding with an operating company, before you decide. Customs, CBAM and warehouse work each have their own price, which you see before the work starts.
In India, your company invests under the Overseas Investment Rules and Regulations of 2022. Before the first investment it files Form FC, the report of an investment abroad, with its authorised dealer bank, the bank licensed to handle its foreign exchange. The steps are set out in outbound investment from India (ODI) into a Dutch company, and the company itself in company registration in the Netherlands from India.
Sources: European Commission, the EU-India trade agreement (updated 11 September 2026), chapter-by-chapter summary (2026) and press release of 27 January 2026; Council of the EU, proposal for the conclusion, COM(2026) 482: signature in 2026, entry into force expected in the first half of 2027 (11 September 2026); Government of India, Press Information Bureau, India’s trade partnerships (27 February 2026) and questions and answers on the agreement (29 January 2026); Government of India, News on AIR, India, EU likely to sign free trade agreement by December (21 June 2026): the Indian government’s planning for signing and application; Netherlands Enterprise Agency, Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), business.gov.nl (2026); Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety (2023). Last reviewed: 27 October 2026.
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