India, EFTA’s historic free trade agreement has a $100 billion investment plan.

India and EFTA have inked a free trade agreement with an investment plan of $100 billion over the next 15 years.India and the four-nation European bloc EFTA on Sunday signed a free trade agreement under which New Delhi has received an investment commitment of USD 100 billion over the next 15 years to facilitate the creation of one million jobs.The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.The agreement was signed after a gap of almost 16 years as negotiations, started in 2008, but were put on hold in November 2013. Talks resumed in October 2016, and after 21 rounds of negotiations were held before its conclusion.For the first time in the history of FTAs (free trade agreements), a legal commitment is being made to promoting target-oriented investment and the job creation.Almost all the domestic industrial goods would get duty-free access in EFTA nations under the agreement, besides duty concessions on processed agricultural products. Switzerland, the major trading partner of India in the bloc, already removed duties from January this year on almost all industrial goods.On the other hand, India is offering 82.7 per cent of its tariff lines or product categories, which covers 95.3 per cent of EFTA exports of which more than 80 per cent of imports is gold.On gold, India has not touched the effective customs duty (which is 15 per cent) but has reduced the bound rate by one per cent to 39 per cent.Bound and applied rates are used in international trade parlance. While bound tariffs or duties refer to the ceiling, the applied tariff is the duty, which is currently in place.India will also provide duty concessions on certain PLI (production-linked incentive) sectors like pharma, medical devices and processed food.Sensitivities related to these sectors have been kept in mind while extending offers.