He said the legal scrub of the FTA has been completed, and it could be signed this year and implemented from 2027. The conclusion of the FTA talks was announced on January 27.
“CBAM took a lot of negotiating capital…In the text, there is a separate annexure on dealing with CBAM, and there are certain pillars on that,” said Jain. “The first pillar is the case of flexibility in the future that will be available to India. So, there is an obligation in that,” he said at an event organised by the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce.
Under CBAM, which came into effect on January 1, the EU will impose a carbon tax on goods such as steel, aluminium, fertiliser and cement. The tax is currently levied on steel and aluminium products. “Second, CBAM compliance is a concern among SMEs in terms of verification, finding out what the value of embedded carbon is, and ensuring that the verifiers are recognised by the EU authorities,” said Jain. “There are separate provisions and we have a provision in which we can engage with EU authorities on taking into account the carbon price, which is paid in India.”