Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India and the European Union have reached a free trade agreement to deepen their economic and strategic ties

India and the European Union have signed a landmark free trade agreement being called "mother of all deals" as it represents about a third of global trade.

S IXTEEN MONTHS ago Narendra Modi looked chastened. Having just lost his majority in a national election, the chest-thumping Indian leader was forced to lean on regional parties. His coalition showed little appetite for difficult reform. Some commentators pronounced it “Peak Modi”. Would-be successors began to plot.

Addressing the media ahead of the Budget Session 2026, PM Modi said India has emerged as a centre of global attention, pointing to the India–European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed at the beginning of the quarter as a marker of future promise.

Goods traded between India and the EU in 2024 amounted to over 120 billion euros (about $140 billion), making it New Delhi's largest trading partner.

Brussels has accelerated its outreach to markets around the world. Over the past year, von der Leyen has signed deals with Japan, Indonesia, Mexico and South America under the catchphrase “strategic autonomy,” which in practice is akin to decoupling from a U.S. seen by most European leaders as erratic.

On this Special Report, anchor Rajdeep Sardesai discusses the findings of the January 2026 'Mood of the Nation' poll. The data reveals a significant surge in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity,

Leaders of the European Union and India announced a wide-ranging trade agreement on Tuesday, which came after nearly two decades of on-and-off negotiations that became increasingly urgent in the last six months after stiff tariffs were imposed by U.