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India, European EFTA bloc sign $100 billion free trade deal

India and the four-member European trade bloc EFTA, including Norway and Switzerland, signed a $100-billion free trade agreement on Sunday to promote investment and exports, officials said.

Published: 10 March 2024 15:53 CET

India, European EFTA bloc sign $100 billion free trade deal

Photo: AFP/INDIAN PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU (PIB).

The deal will see the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) — made up of non-European Union nations, including Iceland and Liechtenstein — invest $100 billion over 15 years in India, the world’s fifth largest economy, India’s Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said.

“The India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) marks a historic milestone in our growing partnership,” Goyal said after the signing in New Delhi.

The agreement “will pave the path for mutual growth and prosperity” by boosting exports, promoting investment and creating employment, he added.

The deal was signed after several rounds of negotiations spanning 16 years.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the trade agreement “symbolises our shared commitment to open, fair and equitable trade”, according to a statement read out at the signing ceremony.

Swiss Economy Minister Guy Parmelin said the deal “will allow us to make better use of our economic potential and create additional opportunities for both India and the EFTA states”.

“EFTA countries gain market access to a major growth market… India, in return, will attract more foreign investment from EFTA, which will ultimately translate into an increase in good jobs”, he added, speaking in New Delhi.

EFTA was established in 1960 to promote free trade and economic integration between its members. In 2021, it was the 10th largest trader in the world in terms of merchandise, and the eighth largest in services.

In recent years, India has signed trade agreements with Australia and the United Arab Emirates.

A long-talked-about trade deal with Britain is also said to be in the final stages.

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Norway's trillion dollar wealth fund posts 107 billion dollar first quarter gain

The fund — fuelled by the Norwegian state’s oil and gas revenues — saw a return of 6.3 percent in the first three months of the year.

The $107 billion gain brought the fund’s total value to a dizzying 17.7 trillion kroner ($1.6 trillion) at the end of March, or almost $291,000 for each of Norway’s 5.5 million inhabitants.

“Our equity investments had a very strong return in the first quarter, particularly driven by the tech sector,” the fund’s deputy chief executive Trond Grande said in a statement.

Shares, which accounted for 72.1 percent of the fund’s portfolio, saw a 9.1 percent return in the first quarter, buoyed by a stock market rally amid the prospect of falling interest rates.

The fund is the world’s biggest single investor, with stakes in some 9,000 companies around the globe and representing 1.5 percent of the total market capitalisation.

Its bond investments, representing 26 percent of assets, meanwhile fell by 0.4 percent in the first quarter. Real estate holdings and those in unlisted renewable energy projects also fell, by 0.5 percent and 11.4 percent respectively.

Weaker currency

Norway’s currency, the krone, weakened against several main currencies during the quarter, contributing $59 billion to the increase in the fund’s value.

According to a ranking by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute (SWFI), the Norwegian fund is the biggest in the world, just ahead of the China Investment Corporation.

Created in the early 1990s, the fund is aimed at financing future spending in Norway’s generous welfare state, as revenue from oil and gas exports are expected to decline over the long term.

All of the state’s oil revenues are placed in the fund: taxes, profits from the state’s holdings in oil and gas fields, and dividends from oil firm Equinor, owned 67 percent by the state.

It is managed by the country’s central bank.

Norwegian governments are allowed to tap the fund to balance the budget, but within a strictly-defined framework.

They are only allowed to use the fund’s estimated returns, not the capital itself, to prevent the fund from being depleted.

All investments are made outside Norway to avoid destabilising the country’s economy.

The fund also follows strict ethical guidelines set by the finance ministry.

It is, for instance, barred from investing in companies accused of serious violations of human rights, child labour or serious environmental damage, as well as manufacturers of “particularly inhumane” arms and tobacco firms, and companies which derive a large part of their activities from coal.

Dozens of groups, including giants like Airbus, Boeing, British American Tobacco and Walmart, have therefore been blacklisted by the fund.

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