Gold Leads India-UK Trade Pact

Take-Off as First Duty-Free Shipment Leaves Calcutta

Report By Y-Trendz

Kolkata — India's newly enforced trade agreement with the United Kingdom took its first practical step this week when a consignment of gold, diamond, silver and platinum jewellery worth roughly $10

million was flagged off from the Kolkata Air Cargo Complex, marking the first duty-free export shipment to Britain under the India-United Kingdom Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). The ceremony, held just a day after the agreement formally entered into force, signalled the transition of one of India's most significant trade deals in recent years from paperwork into practice.

From Signing to Shipment

The CETA was signed in London on July 24, 2025, following fourteen rounds of negotiations stretched across roughly three years, and came into force on July 15, 2026, after both countries completed their domestic ratification procedures. It stands as India's most comprehensive trade agreement with a G7 nation and the United Kingdom's most significant bilateral trade deal since its departure from the European Union. Alongside the CETA, a companion Double Contribution Convention on social security, signed separately in February 2026, took effect on the same date, sparing Indian professionals on temporary UK assignments from paying social security contributions in both countries simultaneously.

Speaking in New Delhi as the agreement took effect, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal called it India's most aspirational trade deal to date, describing it as a gold-standard, first-of-its-kind agreement because of its wide sectoral coverage and deep cuts to both tariff and non-tariff barriers. The deal spans 30 chapters covering goods and services trade, digital commerce, government procurement, intellectual property, investment, labour and gender provisions, and dedicated support for micro, small and medium enterprises.

Just a day later, the symbolism of the agreement's first real-world outcome played out at Kolkata's Air Cargo Complex, where six Kolkata-based jewellery exporters — Jais Jewellery Pvt Ltd, Modern Impex, L Gopal & Sons (Jewellers), AB Jewels Pvt Ltd, JS Jewels Private Limited and Hasmukh Parekh Jewellers — sent off the inaugural shipment. The event was attended by West Bengal Industry and Commerce Minister Tapas Roy, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs Member Yogendra Garg, Additional Director General of Foreign Trade Chandra Kant Mishra, British Deputy High Commissioner for East and Northeast India Andrew Fleming, and the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council's Eastern Region Chairman Pankaj Parekh.

Gold and Gems Get a Head Start

Under the terms of CETA, Indian gem and jewellery exports gain zero-duty access to the UK market from the very day the agreement takes effect, eliminating British import tariffs of as much as 4 percent on these products. Officials say that advantage gives Indian exporters a meaningful competitive edge in the UK's jewellery import market, which industry figures put at roughly $4 billion annually.

Addressing the gathering, Additional Director General of Foreign Trade Chandra Kant Mishra said the CETA marks the start of a new phase in trade relations between the two countries, one expected to generate substantial opportunities for exporters across eastern and northeastern India. He described the agreement as a game changer for West Bengal and the wider Northeast region, noting that sectors such as gems and jewellery, leather, marine products, jute and engineering goods stand to benefit from duty-free access to the British market. Mishra added that the ambition behind the shipment was for it to be remembered not simply as a ceremonial first, but as the beginning of a much larger, sustained wave of eastern Indian exports.

CBIC Member Yogendra Garg struck a similar note, framing the shipment as more than the movement of goods. He described it as the movement of opportunity, one that opens access to a large, high-value market and is expected to help convert local manufacturing strengths into global success stories, while creating new avenues for growth, employment and shared prosperity.

Beyond the headline gold and gem consignment, the same flagging-off ceremony also marked the dispatch of other West Bengal export staples to the United Kingdom under CETA terms, including black tea, Darjeeling tea, coffee, and nearly 3,000 kilograms of betel leaves — underscoring the breadth of products in the eastern Indian export basket now positioned to benefit from the new trade terms.

The Bigger Picture of CETA

The gem and jewellery shipment is just one strand of a much broader agreement. Under CETA, the UK has committed to immediately eliminating duties on 99 percent of Indian tariff lines, a shift expected to remove British tariffs of up to 70 percent on processed foods, 21.5 percent on marine products, 18 percent on engineering goods and auto components, 16 percent on leather and footwear, 12 percent on textiles and clothing, and 8 percent on chemicals and pharmaceuticals. In return, India will phase down its own duties on a range of British goods, including an immediate cut in the tariff on Scotch whisky from 150 percent to 75 percent, with further reductions to 40 percent scheduled over the next decade, along with phased tariff cuts on British automobiles under a quota mechanism.

The agreement also opens India's federal government procurement market to UK firms for the first time in defined sectors such as transport infrastructure, healthcare and energy, while securing British commitments across 137 services sub-sectors, one of London's broadest such commitments in any trade agreement. Indian firms in IT, financial services, engineering, healthcare, education and consulting are expected to gain from the resulting market access and added regulatory certainty. The mobility provisions of the deal also stand out: they create structured visa pathways for Indian professionals, including up to 20,000 annual UK service-supplier visas, 3,000 post-study work visas for Indian graduates each year, and, notably, 1,800 annual mobility slots specifically reserved for Indian chefs, yoga instructors and classical musicians.

According to the Indian Commerce Ministry, bilateral goods trade between the two countries reached $25.12 billion in the last fiscal year, comprising $13.44 billion in Indian exports and $11.68 billion in imports from the UK, while services trade between the countries totalled $35.44 billion in 2024. Government projections suggest CETA could help nearly double overall bilateral trade to around $120 billion by 2030, with UK estimates separately projecting the deal could add £4.8 billion annually to British GDP and boost bilateral trade by an additional £25.5 billion a year by 2040.

A Symbolic Start for Eastern India

For West Bengal specifically, officials are framing the Kolkata shipment as evidence that the region's exporters, often overshadowed by larger trading hubs elsewhere in India, are positioned to compete directly in high-value international markets from day one of the agreement. The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council said the pact is expected to boost the state's gem and jewellery industry by improving market access, encouraging value-added manufacturing, generating employment and strengthening the participation of artisans, micro and small enterprises, and established exporters alike.

Whether the Kolkata shipment turns into a sustained pattern of eastern Indian exports to Britain, as officials hope, will depend on how quickly other exporters across sectors such as leather, marine products, jute and engineering goods move to take advantage of the newly duty-free access. For now, though, the gold, diamonds, silver and platinum that left Kolkata this week stand as the first tangible proof that one of India's most ambitious trade agreements has moved from the negotiating table into the cargo hold.