Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday, 15 July 2026, welcomed the India-UK Free Trade Agreement, saying it will open new doors for Indian enterprise — with particular gains for the country's leather and footwear sector through lower tariffs, greater competitiveness, and expanded global market access.

Context

Posting on X under the hashtag #IndiaUKFTA, Rijiju said the deal would give 'a major boost to India's leather and footwear industry, strengthening manufacturing, increasing exports and creating more employment across the value chain.' The statement reflects the government's framing of the agreement as a jobs-and-growth instrument, not merely a diplomatic milestone.

The India-UK FTA has been in negotiation since January 2022, when both sides formally launched talks in the aftermath of Brexit, which prompted the United Kingdom to pursue independent bilateral trade arrangements. India has used the intervening years to conclude similar pacts — with the UAE in February 2022 and with Australia in December 2022 — covering labour-intensive manufacturing sectors.

Policy Backdrop

India's leather and footwear industry is one of the country's largest employment generators, concentrated in states such as Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Punjab. The sector is dominated by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that are acutely sensitive to tariff differentials in export markets.

A central objective of India's post-2022 FTA strategy has been to secure preferential tariff access for finished manufactured goods, enabling Indian exporters to compete with rivals from countries that already hold trade agreements with target markets. The UK, which currently levies duties on Indian leather and footwear imports, represents a significant untapped opportunity under such a framework.

The broader push forms part of India's ambition to deepen integration into global value chains — a strategic pivot accelerated by post-COVID supply-chain realignments and the structural shift in UK trade policy following its departure from the European Union.

Stakeholders and Impact

Leather exporters and footwear manufacturers stand to be the most immediate beneficiaries if tariff reductions on finished goods are phased in as anticipated. Lower duties in the UK market would directly improve the price competitiveness of Indian products against rivals from Vietnam, Bangladesh, and China, all of which have varying degrees of preferential access to European and British markets.

Employment creation 'across the value chain' — as Rijiju specifically noted — points to downstream benefits for raw-hide processors, component suppliers, logistics providers, and retail exporters, many of whom operate as part of MSME clusters. The deal's impact on these clusters will depend heavily on the pace and depth of tariff phase-downs agreed in the final schedule.

What's Next

The agreement will need to clear parliamentary ratification processes in both India and the United Kingdom before its provisions take legal effect. The phasing of tariff reductions on leather and footwear lines — among the more politically sensitive schedules in any such negotiation — will be closely watched by industry bodies and trade analysts on both sides.

As India moves to formalise and implement the India-UK FTA, the government's ability to translate ministerial optimism into measurable export growth will be the true test of the agreement's ambition for labour-intensive sectors.