Kamal Jain, Director, Cargomen Logistics, believes the greatest advantage of the India–EU FTA lies in predictability, noting that uncertainty is often costlier than tariffs for industry. He emphasises that the agreement provides long-term clarity on duties, standards, rules of origin, sustainability norms, and dispute resolution, enabling Indian exporters across engineering goods, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles, auto components, and agri-processed products to access a high-value, regulation-driven EU market with reduced friction, while making India a more attractive sourcing and production base for European companies pursuing China+1 strategies. Jain views scaling up not as immediate expansion but as strategic readiness, highlighting that the real winners will be businesses that invest early in compliance-led logistics, digitisation, traceability, documentation accuracy, faster transit times, and multimodal efficiency. He advises freight forwarders and airlines to invest with discipline—focusing on EU-centric compliance expertise, pharma-grade and temperature-controlled logistics, value-added services, digital integration, and dedicated freighter strategies rather than asset-heavy expansion. While corridors such as India–Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Italy are set for strong growth, with Northern Europe emerging as a redistribution hub, Jain notes that multimodal routes will gain prominence as sustainability and efficiency become competitive differentiators. He adds that although Middle East geopolitical uncertainty may cause short-term disruptions, structured trade agreements like the India–EU FTA ultimately enhance resilience through route diversification and stronger Europe-facing trade corridors, marking a shift from capacity-driven growth to capability-led leadership in logistics and aviation.
