The UK–India trade agreement is live. What it actually changes for importers and exporters

The UK–India Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement came into force on 15 July 2026, seven months short of two years after it was signed. For a UK business importing from or exporting to India, this is the largest single change to your cost base in a decade — and most of it took effect on day one, not on some distant phase-in date.

Here is what changed, what it is worth, and the one piece of admin that decides whether you get any of it.

The dates that matter

• 6 May 2025 — negotiations concluded.
• 24 July 2025 — the agreement was signed.
• 15 July 2026 — it came into force. Tariff reductions began on this date.
• Year 5 and Year 10 — the two milestones most phase-ins are pegged to. Whisky reaches its floor at year 10; cars reach 10% at year 5.

What it is worth

The UK government's estimate is that the agreement cuts tariffs on UK exports to India by around £400 million a year at entry into force, rising to roughly £900 million a year after ten years.

The wider projections: an eventual £25.5 billion increase in bilateral trade, £4.8 billion added to UK GDP annually, and £5.1 billion to India's. Total UK–India trade was worth £48 billion in 2025, so the deal is being asked to grow an already substantial relationship by roughly half again.

On coverage: 99% of Indian goods entering the UK and 90% of UK goods entering India are now either duty free or on reduced tariffs.

The tariff cuts, by sector

These are the reductions most likely to change a UK trader's numbers. Where a range is given, the rate depends on the specific commodity code.

Sector	Before	Now / phase-in
Scotch whisky and gin	150%	75% immediately, 40% over 10 years
Salmon, cod and other seafood	33%	0% immediately
Chocolate, biscuits, soft drinks	33–55%	Eliminated within 10 years
Cars (petrol and diesel)	Over 100%	30–50% initially, 10% from year 5, under quota
Cars (electric, hybrid, hydrogen)	Over 100%	Access from year 6, 10% from year 10, under quota
Pharmaceuticals	Around 11%	Removed — 87.6% duty free at entry
Medical devices	8.25–13.75%	Eliminated after 10 years, phased
Cosmetics and beauty	10–20%	Removed or reduced
Aircraft parts	Up to 11%	Tariff free
Machinery and electrical equipment	Up to 22%	0% immediately or phased

The automotive quotas are worth reading carefully rather than skimming. Petrol and diesel vehicles start at a 20,000 unit tariff-rate quota in year one, rising to 37,000 by year five. Electric, hybrid and hydrogen vehicles do not get access until year six, starting at 4,400 units and reaching 22,000 by year fifteen. If you are outside the quota, you are outside the preferential rate.

The one thing you must do

Preferential rates are not automatic. To claim them, a UK business must complete a one-time registration with HMRC through the Origin Registration portal. Until that is done, your goods clear at the old rates regardless of what the agreement says.

If you have not done this, it is the highest-return hour of admin available to you this quarter. Everything else in this article is theoretical until that registration exists.

You will also need to satisfy the agreement's rules of origin — proving your goods genuinely originate where you say they do. For anything assembled from components sourced across several countries, check this before you quote a customer a duty-inclusive price.

What businesses are actually seeing so far

Honestly: it is too early to say, and you should be wary of anyone claiming otherwise.

The agreement has been in force for roughly six weeks at the time of writing. Neither the UK government nor the House of Commons Library has published post-implementation trade figures yet, and the first meaningful data will not appear until quarterly trade statistics catch up. Anyone quoting you a percentage uplift in UK–India trade "since the deal" right now is extrapolating, not measuring.

What is certain is the arithmetic on individual shipments, because those rates changed on 15 July. A distiller shipping £500,000 of Scotch into India was paying £750,000 in duty at 150%. At 75%, that is £375,000 — a saving of £375,000 on the same shipment, available today. A seafood exporter moving £200,000 of salmon went from £66,000 in duty to nothing. Those are not projections. They are the invoice.

The part most businesses will miss

Every UK competitor in your sector got the same tariff cut on the same day. The duty saving is not an advantage — it is a new baseline. The advantage goes to whoever the Indian buyer finds and trusts first.

That is a visibility problem, not a customs one. An Indian importer sourcing UK medical devices or speciality food is doing what any buyer does: searching, comparing, and increasingly asking an AI assistant to shortlist suppliers before contacting anyone. If your website does not clearly state what you ship, which certifications you hold, which incoterms you work on and that you can now supply into India at a preferential rate, you are invisible at exactly the moment demand is being created for you.

We wrote about the mechanics of that in AEO for import and export. The short version: buyers in an unfamiliar market ask an assistant first, and assistants can only name businesses whose pages they can actually read.

Where to start

1. Register with HMRC's Origin Registration portal. Nothing else counts until this is done.
2. Check your commodity codes against the agreement schedule — the headline rate may not be your rate.
3. Say it on your website. A page stating that you supply into India under CETA, with your certifications and lead times, is the cheapest sales asset you will build this year.
4. Make that page findable. In search, and by the assistants your buyers are asking.

Sophons handles the last two. We build the pages, structure them so search engines and AI assistants can read and quote them, and keep publishing against the questions your buyers are actually asking. If India is a market you are moving into this year, get AI growth plan and we will look at what you would need to be found for.

Sources

• Historic UK-India Free Trade Agreement is now in effect — GOV.UK, entry into force, headline economic estimates and coverage figures.
• The UK-India trade deal — Business Growth Service, sector-by-sector tariff schedules, quotas and the HMRC Origin Registration requirement.
• UK-India Free Trade Agreement — House of Commons Library research briefing, annual tariff-saving estimates.
• Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the UK and India — the agreement text, including Chapter 2 on trade in goods.