The first anniversary of trade partnership deserves greater attention than it currently is drawing.

Its time to analyse how the trade pact has worked.

Four European states which are not members of European Union (EU) decided to enter into a free trade agreement with India while EU was still negotiating the trade pact. The EFTA TEPA, therefore, in many ways has set up the base for the India-EU FTA which is expected to be ready by this December.

The EFTA TEPA is the only one of the four agreements built around a binding capital commitment, giving investors a government-backed signal of sustained investment inflow into India over the next decade and a half. The India-EFTA TEPA differs from India's other trade agreements in one important respect: the EFTA block comprising Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, did not just agree to expand trade access. The agreement carries a binding commitment of US$100 billion in investment into India over 15 years, alongside the creation of one million direct jobs.

What is worth noting is this: none of the other FTAs that India has been signed so far previously included a commitment of this kind. Signed in March 2024 after roughly 16 years of on-and-off negotiations, the TEPA entered into force on 1 October 2025.

The second India-EFTA Prosperity Summit, scheduled in New Delhi on October 7, to celebrate the first anniversary of the trade pact will be interesting to note. Switzerland’s President Guy Parmelin, who will be in India between October 5 and 7, will participate in the summit.

Strengths Of EFTA TEPA

The TEPA harnesses the “Power of Five (Panch)”, clarifying roles and complementarities – it embodies a win win scenario for both. While India offers scale, demand and skilled talent, Switzerland brings precision in manufacturing, finance and capital goods. Norway presents both maritime competence and clean energy depth. Iceland brings niche clean-tech and digital ingenuity and Liechtenstein offers high-value manufacturing and specialized engineering. This partnership would strive to compound trade, investment and technology flows over the next two to three decades.

Market access and mobility improvements would open doors in EFTA countries for Indian farmers, micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and entrepreneurs. Not only that-- farmers and agri-marine exporters stand to gain tariff advantages and premium-market positioning in specialty coffees, marine products and selected fresh and processed foods.

Our MSMEs benefit from standards cooperation and lab-onboarding that reduce duplicative testing and compliance costs, plus buyer–supplier matchmaking and skilling support.

Under TEPA, EFTA has offered 92.2% of tariff lines encompassing 99.6% of India’s exports. Includes 100% of non-agricultural products and tariff concessions on Processed Agricultural Products (PAP). India’s offer to EFTA covers 82.7% of tariff lines, accounting for 95.3% of EFTA exports.

Over 80% of these imports are gold, with no change in effective duty on the yellow metal. Sensitive sectors including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, processed food, dairy, soya, coal, and sensitive agricultural products- have been adequately protected.

Trade With Switzerland

Among EFTA countries, Switzerland is India’s largest trading partner followed by Norway. The TEPA will be yet another platform to increase Swiss investments into India.

With a total trade of US$ 23.27 billion, Switzerland was India’s 15th largest trading partner in 2024-25. While India’s exports have remained consistent in the past five years, our imports have fluctuated since a substantial part of it is in gold bullion leading to the trade balance tilting in its favour. Switzerland is among the

world’s major gold refining centres. MMTC-PAMP, a joint venture between the India and Switzerland is the first domestic innovator to develop gold bars and colorization of gold coins.

Foreign direct investment (FDI), between April 2000 and June 2025, from Switzerland into India stood at US$10.87 billion placing it at 12th position globally. Swiss FDI in India increased by 53% during 2015-2023 recording an average annual growth rate of 9%.

As many as 330 Swiss companies are present in India with a subsidiary, joint venture or liaison or representation office, out of which 294 entered Indian market post liberalization of Indian economy in 1991. These companies have created over 1,66,000 jobs in India. As many as 108 companies have their manufacturing facility in Switzerland and of this 74 use India as their export hub for other markets. That apart, 30 Swiss companies operate their R&D centre in India.

Banking and financial services, insurance, machine, electrical engineering and metals (MEM) & precision, construction, information & communications, technology and software and services are the leading sectors.

In 2023, the “India-Swiss Innovation Platform, a collaborative mechanism with a focus on innovation and R&D was launched in Bengaluru. Switzerland is a global innovation powerhouse and it is prudent for India to take advantage of TEPA and build a win-win partnership.

Ties With Norway

India’s economic and commercial ties with Norway are on the upswing. There has been a spurt in trade, investments, transfer-of-technology and other contacts. The current growth in Indo-Norwegian eco-commercial ties have been fuelled by common interest, in sectors such as deep off-shore, shipping, hydro-electricity, Information Technology, Bio-Technology and light consumer goods.  Norwegian IT companies are also looking at offshoring their business to India or investing in Indian start-ups.

Knowledge and technology sharing is another important facet of the Indo-Norwegian relationship.  Through a joint Indo-Norwegian research initiative established in 2016, five new joint projects were selected to receive funding for polar research. With its highly-skilled researchers combined with experience in Antarctica, India has become a significant contributor to Arctic scientific advancements.

Importantly, Norway’s maritime and shipping industry has also grown through its many business partnerships in India. The Indo-Norwegian Joint Working Group Maritime has identified specific areas for further collaboration, such as Coastal Shipping and Inland Waterways, LNG based Shipping, Cooperation in Ports and Sustainable Shipping. There is an ongoing discussion on greening of the port operations, developing green shore power, developing green fuel bunkering, and joining the Environmental Port Index (EPI), which is a standard for decarbonisation of ports. Norwegian shipowners have used Cochin Shipyard Ltd to built two autonomous battery operated coast cargo ferries while a hydrogen carrier is currently under construction. Norwegian Climate Investment Fund has invested around US$ 270 million in India. The scope to collaborate in renewable energy and carbon capture storage (CCS) technology with Norway is enormous. Norwegian companies also play a prominent role in the Indian naval sector.

Over 140 Norwegian companies have business presence in India in sectors such as food processing, ship building, petroleum related services, marine/sub-sea drilling equipment, hydropower, renewable energy, and IT services. Among the major Norwegian investors that have come into India are Orkla, Norfund, Jotun, Statkraft, Scatec, DNB, Kongsberg and Yara. On the other hand, Indian companies have also invested in Norway over the last few years, especially the Indian IT majors such as TCS, Infosys, HCL, L&T Infotech, Wipro and Tech Mahindra. There are several entrepreneurs in the Indian diaspora, who are gradually establishing themselves in Nordic country.  The Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) of Norway, which has a net value of around US$2 trillion, has invested close to US$ 35 billion in the Indian capital market.

The EFTA TEPA also provides an appropriate platform for India to tap into Norway’s pension funds.

Amid the success story of the India EFTA trade pact, all eyes will be on the upcoming deal with the EU. With an eye on boosting exports, India is aggressively looking for fresh markets. The India EU FTA, which is expected to be signed in December, will be in operation by early next year.

(The writer is a commentator on geopolitics and geoeconomics. Views expressed are personal.)