India and SACU have formally launched negotiations for a Preferential Trade Agreement.
India and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) signed the Terms of Reference (ToR) for negotiations towards a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) on August 12, 2026 at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi. The signing marks the formal resumption of negotiations aimed at strengthening trade and economic engagement between India and the five-member SACU bloc comprising South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini.
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal called for a balanced, fair and equitable agreement, highlighting opportunities for cooperation in engineering goods and machinery, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, textiles, agriculture and agri-processing. He also emphasised India’s potential to support the region through affordable medicines, IT skills and integration into global supply chains.
The ToR establishes the framework for the negotiations, covering eight chapters, including trade in goods and market access, rules of origin, customs procedures and trade facilitation, trade remedies including bilateral safeguards, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, dispute settlement and legal and horizontal provisions.
The signing revives India-SACU trade negotiations that had previously stalled after five rounds held between 2002 and 2010. The Department of Commerce had resumed discussions on the proposed PTA in 2025 and continued work on finalising the ToR during 2026.
The agreement is intended to provide a structured basis for negotiations on preferential market access. However, the signing of the ToR itself does not provide tariff concessions. Such concessions would come only after the conclusion and implementation of the final PTA. Recent reporting indicates that India is seeking improved market access for products including automobiles, pharmaceuticals, machinery and electrical equipment, while also looking to strengthen access to critical minerals from the SACU region.
Source: PIB
