BIT or FTA.

"The recently signed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Indian and the United Kingdom is expected to enhance bilateral trade, with projected annual growth of around 15% until calendar year 2030." "Currently, trade with the UK constitutes approximately 2% of India's total trade volume." TOI. The FTA is expected to come into effect in 2026 and "promises to significantly boost trade volumes - particularly in the textile and apparel sector - by eliminating tariffs on 99% of Indian goods. While India's textile exports to UK stood at $1.4 billion in CY2024, representing a 6.6% share of textiles imported by the UK." FE. In which case, why has the UK government "called it 'huge economic win for the UK' and published its expected gains; India has not," wrote Subhash C Garg. "The UK's annual exports are estimated to grow by an additional 15.7 billion pounds; India's by 9.8 billion pounds, wiping out the current Indian surplus of 8.4 billion pounds. DH. However, experts have cast doubts on the ratification of the treaty because of "two key issues - the UK's carbon tax and the slow progress of the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between the two countries." "The new BIT template introduced in 2015-16 made it more challenging for foreign investors to pursue international arbitration, highlighting India's attempts to rebalance investor protection and sovereign rights." "This template requires investors to exhaust local remedies for at least five years before seeking arbitration." ET. Trouble is that politicians in India think they are sovereigns in the mold of the Tudors in England, who settled arguments by beheading anyone who disagreed (wikipedia). For instance, "India's Supreme Court has said that authorities cannot demolish homes merely because a person has been accused of a crime and has laid down strict guidelines for any such action." BBC. And yet, "Authorities in Gujarat's Rajkot Monday (19 May) pulled down over 60 properties linked to 38 'history sheeters'," who "faced cases of murder, theft and prohibition violations." TOI. Instead of proving the crimes in court to punish genuine criminals, authorities demolished the homes of people they accused, thereby forcing their families, including children and elderly, to sleep in the open. Prohibition violation probably means smuggling of alcohol which is banned in Gujarat. Not just our violent authorities, even our judges have been found wanting. "The Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) has set aside an arbitral award worth Rs 802.9 million by an international arbitration panel comprising three retired judges from India, after concluding that the judges had delivered their decision with a 'closed mind', having copied large sections from previous awards without considering the facts and submissions in the present case." HT. Why bring our nation into disrepute? "Supreme Court judges who author judgements in favor of the government are likely to be appointed to a 'prestigious job' after they retire, according to a research paper." A14. The authors live abroad. Foreigners are unlikely to accept coercion. FTA in limbo. Because of BIT.