Britain has completed the majority of sections of a free trade agreement with India but will only sign off on the deal once happy that it is fair and reciprocal, trade department minister Greg Hands said on Wednesday.

“We have already closed the majority of chapters and look forward to the next round of talks shortly,” Hands told parliament.

The Centre had previously said it wanted to complete the deal by Diwali, a deadline that passed earlier this week. “We are working towards the best deal for both sides and won’t sign until we have a deal that is fair, reciprocal and ultimately in the best interests of the British people and the UK economy.”

“ A strong FTA can strengthen the economic links between UK and India, boosting the UK economy by more than £3 billion by 2035, helping families and communities,” he said. Bilateral trade in goods between the countries stood at $16 billion in 2021-22 compared with $13.11 billion in 2020-21, a jump of 22.17 per cent.

Exports worth $9.43 billion were shipped in 2021-22, while imports worth $6.59 billion were received in the same year. This gives a trade balance of $2.84 billion in the financial year 2021-22. The bilateral trade stood at $15.45 billion in 2019-20, $16.87 billion in 2018-19, and $14.49 billion in 2017-18. In 2021, India was the UK’s 15th largest trading partner, and the UK India’s 18th largest partner with manufacturing exports accounting for over 90 per cent of India’s exports to Britain.