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The ongoing wars in the world have led to various degrees of delays in the negotiations of at least three separate trade deals that India is working on, sources in the government have confirmed. These deals involve countries that cumulatively account for about 20% of India’s total trade.

These negotiations are on separate FTAs with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Israel, and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union.

“The GCC team had come to Delhi for the signing of the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the deal and so it is our turn to go there for the round of negotiation,” a senior official in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry told The Hindu. “But with all this happening [the ongoing war in West Asia], that visit is pending.”

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and the Secretary General of the GCC, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, on February 24, 2026, formally launched negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the GCC countries — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

However, later that month, the U.S. launched its attack on Iran. As a result, the first round of negotiations is yet to take place.

“This FTA is of particular importance for India not just as a strategic one, but also because of access,” the official said. “It will mean that any one of the ports of the GCC countries will give India exporters access to all the other countries.”

The negotiations regarding the India-Israel FTA, too, are facing similar delays. The ToR for the deal was signed in Tel Aviv in November 2025 by Mr. Goyal and Israel’s Economy Minister Nir Barkat. The first round of negotiations took place in February 2026 in New Delhi and the second round was to be in May in Tel Aviv.

However, the war in the region delayed these talks as well and changed the location. Talks have only now resumed, with the Israeli negotiation team currently in New Delhi until July 23 to discuss the deal.

“Our team was to go there, but safety was obviously an issue,” the official explained.

He added that similar concerns are leading to delays in India’s in-person negotiations with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) as well. The EAEU comprises Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia.

“The first round of the EAEU FTA was held in November 2025 and the second round in Moscow was held all the way in June 2026,” he explained. “The back-end talks are progressing well, but actual visits are becoming difficult to coordinate especially now that Ukraine has intensified its counteroffensive.”

India conducts $60.7 billion worth of annual trade with the EAEU nations, predominantly with Russia. It has a total annual trade of about $178.7 billion with the GCC countries and $3.9 billion with Israel.

In total, therefore, the wars are delaying negotiations on trade deals involving about $243 billion worth of trade for India, or about 20% of India’s total trade.

Published - July 21, 2026 07:05 pm IST