Describing the pact as ‘disastrous for agriculture and industry alike,’ the Samyukt Kisan Morcha warned that the deal would destroy domestic manufacturing capacity and employment
NEW DELHI –Even as the ruling BJP and its allies project the India–European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as a historic economic breakthrough, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Friday launched a stinging attack on the deal, calling it a “blueprint for economic colonisation” that will devastate farmers, cripple MSMEs, accelerate de-industrialisation and worsen unemployment.
In a Press note, the umbrella body of farmers’ organisations strongly criticised the India-EU FTA, rejecting the government’s claims of growth and market access. It said the agreement represents a systematic corporate capture of the country’s economy and a surrender of national economic sovereignty to European corporate interests.
Describing the pact as “disastrous for agriculture and industry alike,” SKM warned that the deal would hit small and marginal farmers the hardest while destroying domestic manufacturing capacity and employment. The farmers’ body demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi explain why the agreement is being debated in the European Parliament but has not been subjected to discussion in the Indian Parliament.
According to SKM, the government has agreed to eliminate import duties on a wide range of agricultural and processed food items, including olive oil, margarine and other vegetable oils, fruit juices, non-alcoholic beer, breads, pastries, biscuits, pasta, chocolate, pet food and sheep meat. Import duties on wine have been slashed from 150 per cent to as low as 20–30 spirits from 150 per cent to 40, beer from 110 per cent to 50, and tariffs on kiwis, pears, sausages and other meat preparations have been sharply reduced.
While the government claims agriculture has been protected, SKM said the opening up of the processed food market would have a “far more devastating impact” on domestic agriculture, depressing farmgate prices and undermining small producers.
SKM also accused the Modi government of capitulating to European pressure by accepting the EU’s stringent and costly Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) barriers, which continue to block Indian agricultural exports such as grapes and mangoes. At the same time, India has reportedly diluted its own standards to facilitate the entry of European produce.
“This double standard protects EU farmers while exposing Indian farmers and consumers to unfair and unsafe competition,” SKM said, adding that rejection of Indian produce would continue even after the deal, amounting to a betrayal of farmers’ interests.
Flood of Subsidised EU Products
Citing statements by EU leaders, SKM said the pact offers Europe its “biggest trade opening” in India to date. For Indian agriculture, this would mean an influx of nearly €4 billion worth of subsidised EU dairy products, processed foods, wines and spirits annually.
The farmers’ body pointed to the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which provides massive subsidies that Indian farmers cannot match. The elimination of tariffs on 96.6 per cent of EU goods, it warned, would trigger a flood of cheap imports, crash domestic prices and replicate earlier crises seen in pulses and edible oils.
“This is not competition, it is economic warfare against India’s smallholder farmers,” it said.
The organisation also raised alarm over the FTA’s “high-level” intellectual property provisions, describing them as a Trojan horse for European seed and agro-chemical monopolies. The deal, it said, seeks to impose TRIPS-plus conditions that would criminalise farmers’ traditional rights to save, exchange and reuse seeds, a move echoed in the NDA government’s proposed Seed Bill, 2025.
In the pharmaceutical sector, SKM warned that extended patent terms and data exclusivity would weaken India’s generic medicine industry, making healthcare unaffordable for millions.
On the industrial front, the agreement eliminates import duties on machinery, electrical equipment, aircraft, medical devices, plastics, pharmaceuticals, iron and steel, and chemicals, while slashing tariffs on motor vehicles from 110 per cent to just 10 per cent. This, SKM said, would devastate MSMEs, deepen de-industrialisation and lead to large-scale job losses.
Pointing out that the FTA will take at least a year to be ratified by EU member states and the European Parliament, the farmers’ body questioned why an agreement with long-term implications for India’s economy and people has not been debated in Parliament.
“Despite claiming India is the ‘Mother of Democracy’, the government has kept Parliament in the dark,” SKM said, demanding that all negotiation documents be placed in the public domain and the deal subjected to full parliamentary scrutiny.
It announced it would intensify mobilisation of farmers and workers across the country and called upon them to make the nationwide general strike on February 12, a success, in protest against what it termed “corporate legislations, policies and the India-EU FTA”.
The farmers’ body said it would continue to resist what it described as the NDA government’s surrender to European corporate interests and its betrayal of farmers, workers and the national economy.
