Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, said India and Switzerland are actively strengthening their economic partnership, with a focused push on expanding market access, facilitating investment, and deepening cooperation in infrastructure, technology, innovation, and supply chains. The remarks came as bilateral momentum builds following last year's landmark trade agreement between India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

TEPA: India's First FTA with a European Bloc

Agarwal, in a post on X, highlighted that India and the four EFTA member nations — Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein — implemented the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) in October 2025. He described it as India's first free trade agreement with a European economic bloc, calling it a framework designed to drive investment, innovation, jobs, and shared prosperity.

Notably, TEPA's implementation marks a structural shift in India's trade diplomacy — moving beyond Asia-focused FTAs toward a more expansive engagement with developed Western economies.

What PM Modi Said at the Joint Press Conference

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a joint press conference in New Delhi with Swiss President Guy Parmelin following bilateral talks on Monday. Modi underscored the convergence of values between the two nations.

'India and Switzerland both believe in democratic values, rule of law, dialogue and diplomacy,' PM Modi said, adding that India has consistently supported meaningful efforts towards peace in Ukraine and West Asia.

He also outlined concrete trade decisions: 'We have taken several important decisions to enhance market access for India's exports in Switzerland and to further facilitate investment between the two countries. This will increase the export of India's agriculture, pharma, textile, and engineering goods to Switzerland. At the same time, we will attract new Swiss investment in India's important sectors such as biotech, life sciences, banking, insurance, food processing, and sustainability.'

Key Areas of Bilateral Cooperation

PM Modi and Swiss President Parmelin reviewed the full spectrum of bilateral ties during their New Delhi meeting. Their discussions spanned trade, investment, innovation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), military matters, defence production, nuclear energy, science and technology, and people-to-people ties.

The breadth of the agenda reflects the growing ambition of the bilateral relationship, which has traditionally centred on finance, watchmaking, and Swiss FDI into Indian manufacturing, but is now expanding into frontier sectors.

Commerce Secretary's Assessment

Agarwal noted that Prime Minister Modi has personally emphasised translating the growing India-Switzerland partnership into concrete outcomes in trade and investment. This framing of outcomes-over-optics signals a shift from earlier diplomatic engagements that produced broad statements without sector-specific deliverables.

This comes amid India's broader push to diversify its trade relationships and reduce dependence on any single bilateral corridor, a strategy that TEPA with EFTA directly serves.

What Comes Next

With TEPA now operational, the immediate focus will be on operationalising the market access gains for Indian exporters in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and engineering goods, while creating enabling conditions to attract Swiss capital into biotech, life sciences, banking, and food processing. Industry bodies and trade facilitation agencies on both sides are expected to set up implementation working groups in the months ahead.