India and the European Union have fast-tracked their free trade negotiations, proposing intensive deliberations on crucial market access issues such as eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers in the next round of talks starting July 7 in Brussels, people familiar with the matter said adding that the two sides have already agreed on nearly a fourth of the 24 chapter deal.

With only about six months left to a previously stated deadline to conclude a balanced, equitable and mutually beneficial deal, both sides are focused on core elements of the proposed free trade agreement (FTA), thee people added, requesting anonymity. Core elements include key matters such as removing tariff and non-tariff barriers on trade in goods, services trade, bilateral investment, rules of origin (ROO), sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, and technical barriers to trade (TBT), they said.

"We have already achieved near consensus on several peripheral chapters, also crucial for smooth functioning of the FTA. These include good regulatory practices (GRP), transparency, mutual administrative assistance in customs matters, trade facilitation, and intellectual property rights (IPR)", one of them said. Common grounds have also been achieved in several other chapters, a second person said.

"Talks have intensified and negotiations have gained significant momentum. Frequency of meetings, both virtual and face-to-face, have gone up significantly after leaders agreed to have a deal by the end of 2025", he said. During the EU college of commissioners' India visit on February 28, 2025, its President Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the FTA agreement would be concluded by the end of this calendar year.