NEW DELHI, Jan 27: Indian IT firms stand to gain from greater opportunities in Europe, including easier cross-border provision of services and potentially improved mobility for professionals, Nasscom said on Tuesday, as India and the European Union (EU) sealed a landmark free trade agreement.
The FTA fosters deeper EU-India ties in technology, innovation, and digital areas (building on the India-EU Trade and Technology Council), Nasscom said, adding that this could lead to more EU investment in India’s IT ecosystem, joint ventures, R&D in AI, semiconductors, clean tech, and startups.
Given the geopolitical challenges, the FTA diversifies markets for Indian IT exporters, providing a hedge against global trade uncertainties, the industry association — whose members include IT companies and tech players across the spectrum, of varying size and scale — said in a statement.
It is pertinent to mention here that the India-EU FTA comes at a time when US tariffs and geopolitical shocks have triggered a global trade turmoil, and India’s USD 280-billion IT industry is dealing with visa-related headwinds and macro uncertainties.
Heightened scrutiny of the US H-1B visa programme, including a USD 1,00,000 fee for new visas, social media screening and unpredictable processing delays, has complicated cross-border delivery for Indian firms, even as companies accelerate efforts to reduce reliance on US visas. Notably, the US is currently the IT sector’s largest export market.
Nasscom on Tuesday said the India-EU FTA strengthens India’s position in global value chains for digital services.
“Indian IT firms stand to gain from greater opportunities in Europe, including easier cross-border provision of services and potentially improved mobility for professionals,” it pointed out in a statement.
Nasscom noted that while the goods see major tariff cuts, services gains are more about opening markets and rules-based predictability.
“Services being a dominant and faster growing part of both economies, the gains would be in the form of better EU market access for Indian tech. This could lower non-tariff barriers and ease cross-border delivery,” according to Nasscom.
India and the 27-nation bloc have agreed on a constructive framework to enable social security agreements in five years with all the EU member states, Nasscom observed.
Indian IT companies could benefit from technology transfer, co-creation, and expanded partnerships, it further said.
“By boosting bilateral trade and economic ties, the deal supports job creation, MSME growth in tech, and overall confidence for investors in India’s services sector. The FTA includes dedicated SME chapters with contact points and digital platforms,” Nasscom added. (PTI_)
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