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Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said India and the European Union are looking forward to a robust, fair, equitable, balanced and a mutually beneficial win-win partnership in terms of an enduring free trade agreement (FTA).He was speaking at the annual session of the Automobile Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) on Friday. EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic, who was also present, said the two sides are maximising efforts to finalise negotiations for the FTA by December-end and that intensive negotiations are currently underway to achieve a “groundbreaking” deal. He said that while India and the EU may not agree on all issues, he is confident of achieving a “very good agreement”. “India, EU teams are engaged in intense negotiations for a free-trade agreement,” said Goyal.‘Potential to Encourage Innovation’“Every agreement has some give and take to make it a balanced one; there can never be a perfect situation. And we should not make perfect an enemy of the good.” “I assure you the possibilities we are trying to unlock, you will find the arrangements between India, EU attractive, exciting, and holding good potential for businesses to grow and collaborate and encouraging innovation,” the minister said.Noting that the automotive market in India is expanding and thriving, Sefcovic said, “I believe that our shared goal with minister Goyal is to ensure that the FTA would facilitate two-way trade flows between India and the EU under the condition of tariff liberalisation for all components, from engines to brakes”. The 13th round of India-EU FTA talks took place in New Delhi from September 8-12. Sefcovic and the European Commission’s agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen were visiting New Delhi to review the progress of FTA talks with Goyal.“I believe that this would be a winwin scenario for our industries, and would, in particular, facilitate the introduction of advanced new technologies into India,” said Goyal. “I believe that by combining the power of our automotive markets, the world's third and fourth largest, we can lead the charge in developing cutting-edge combustion engines as well as electric vehicles with advanced battery technologies and smart mobility solutions that meet the needs of the changing world.”Duty Concessions in AutoThe minister’s statement assumes significance as the EU is seeking import duty concessions in the auto sector from India. India, which otherwise charges over 100% import duty on fully-built vehicles, gave duty concessions to UK-built cars under a recent FTA. Hansen also said the EU-India relationship is not just about trade but about the high-value-added investment that would create additional thousands and millions of jobs. Several European automakers such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz have manufacturing units in India.“Our cooperation in this sector is also about sharing the best practices in manufacturing, in investing, in research and development, especially if it comes to the next generation vehicles,” said Sefcovic. “We would work on standards, and of course, we would jointly address global challenges like climate change through cleaner and more efficient technologies.” Noting that global trade is being severely disrupted by geopolitics, he said both India and the EU need to adjust to the new realities while seizing new opportunities in expanding market access, building resilient supply chains, and widening bilateral trade.Strengthening Supply ChainsOn the current global uncertainties, he said India and the EU are working together to unlock investments, reduce barriers, expand market access, and strengthen supply chains to guard against risks from unforeseen events. The imposition of high tariffs by the US on several countries has triggered uncertainties in global trade. The US has imposed a steep 50% duty on several Indian goods. Goyal said India will benefit from the EU's economy and innovations.“We aspire to grow from today's level of 34 cars per 1,000 persons, to possibly take it at the initial stage, to about 200 cars per 1000 people,” he said. “We are living in times full of uncertainty and volatility, but it is such times that the true strength of the nation and industry come to fore,” Goyal said, adding that the best comes out from all of us in these trying times. “We went through Covid and when we look back, we realise the current time is nothing compared to what we went through during Covid”.

In a move aimed at broadening the pool of long-term institutional investors in initial public offerings (IPOs), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday amended the ICDR Regulations to extend anchor investor participation beyond domestic mutual funds.Also Read: Sebi eases minimum public offer norms, minimum public shareholding timelines for large IPOsUntil now, reservation in the anchor book was exclusively available to mutual funds. Under the revised framework, life insurance companies registered with IRDAI and pension funds registered with PFRDA will now be included in the reserved anchor portion, bringing greater inclusivity and stability to IPO fund-raising.The decision was taken in a Sebi board meeting held today and chaired by Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey, his third since taking over as the chief in March. Sebi has also streamlined the anchor allotment structure where the two existing categories for discretionary allotment — Category I (up to Rs 10 crore) and Category II (above Rs 10 crore and up to Rs 250 crore) — have been merged into a single bucket for allocations up to Rs 250 crore.For such issues, there will be a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 15 anchor allottees, with each investor required to receive at least Rs 5 crore worth of shares. For every additional Rs 250 crore of allocation, 15 more anchor allottees will be permitted.Further, Sebi has increased the overall reservation for the anchor portion from one-third to 40%. Of this, one-third will remain earmarked for domestic mutual funds, while the balance will go to insurance companies and pension funds.If there is under subscription in the reserved portion for insurers and pension funds, the shortfall will be reallocated to mutual funds.The move is aimed at diversifying the IPO investor base, enhancing stability, and aligning the framework with global practices by bringing in large, patient capital from insurance and pension funds.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

The three IPOs of Urban Company, Shringar House and Dev Accelerator received overwhelming demand from investors as investors committed a cumulative amount of Rs 1.22 lakh crore. Urban Company pocketed the highest bids for nearly 1000 crore shares as against 10 crore shares on offer.The issue, which was priced at Rs 103, received bids worth Rs 1.13 lakh crore as against Rs 1900 crore on offer. Dev Accelerator, which garnered a subscription of nearly 64 times, got bids for Rs 5,124 crore. The company planned to raise about 143 crore. Meanwhile, Shringar House of Mangalsutra too was subscribed over 60 times, receiving bids for 16,927 crore.All the three IPOs will see their allotment finalised on Monday with listing dates scheduled for Wednesday. In line with the demand, the GMPs for these companies were healthy. Urban Company has been commanding a premium of over 40% on the final day of bidding.For Urban Company, analysts said the strong demand underlines investor confidence, positioning the IPO among the most actively subscribed issues of the year.However, this IPO is suited for high-risk, high-reward investors and for those with a long-term horizon who believe in the company’s ability to scale sustainably as online penetration deepens."Our stance would be to stay cautious given the growth potential but stretched valuations," said Gaurav Garg, Lemonn Markets Desk.The performance on these IPOs on listing day will be closely watched as a signal of whether primary market rush can sustain through the record-breaking pipeline expected in FY26. India is one of the world’s leading IPO markets, raising over Rs 1.5 lakh crore in 2024 and has retained that spot in 2025.Analysts say the deluge of IPOs — with Rs 2.8 lakh crore of issues lined up excluding Jio — hasn’t deterred retail and institutional buyers. Urban Company’s tech-led consumer story, Dev Accelerator’s Tier-2 office play, and Shringar’s niche jewellery positioning have all attracted different demand pockets.According to data from Primedatabase, Sebi has given green light to issues worth about Rs 1.14 lakh crore and Rs 1.64 lakh crore worth offers are pending approval. This comes as regulator shortened approval timelines, using AI tools to scan documents and clear applications faster.

The European Union could phase out Russian gas within six to 12 months by replacing it with U.S. liquefied natural gas, and the United States communicated this position to EU officials this week, U.S. energy secretary Chris Wright told Reuters on Friday. Wright was speaking in Brussels, where he met EU energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen on Thursday to discuss ending Europe's purchases of Russian energy. The EU is negotiating legal proposals to phase out imports of Russian oil and gas by January 2028, with a ban on short-term contracts kicking in from next year. "I think this could easily be done within 12 months, maybe within six months," Wright said, of how quickly the EU could phase out Russian gas. "I definitely voiced the opinion we could do it faster. On the U.S. side, we could do it faster, and I think it would be good if those dates were moved up even more. I don't know that that's going to happen, but that was dialogued," he said, referring to his meeting with Jorgensen. A European Commission spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The U.S. is ramping up pressure on Europe to cut off energy revenue to Moscow, seeking to end the war in Ukraine. As Russia's most lucrative export, its fuel revenue has helped fund the war. Jorgensen said on Thursday it was unacceptable the EU continued to import Russian energy - but that the 2028 phase out was ambitious and would ensure EU countries do not face energy price spikes or supply shortages in the meantime. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this week the bloc was considering a faster phase-out of Russian fossil fuels as part of new sanctions against Moscow, without specifying how Brussels would do this. New sanctions require unanimous approval from all 27 EU members. Hungary and Slovakia have so far opposed sanctions on Russian gas - which is why the EU proposed the 2028 phase out, in a law which can be approved by a reinforced majority of EU countries. "The faster we phase out, the sooner you put pressure on Russia," Wright said. Europe is expected to purchase around 13% of its gas from Russia this year, down from roughly 45% before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to EU figures.