Data localisation and UK companies being allowed to bid for Indian government contracts were among the issues causing a possible deadlock in the final stages of the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations towards a Diwali draft completion deadline, noted a UK media report on Sunday. 

The Daily Telegraph quoted a source close to the talks to say that data localisation rules that prevented foreign companies taking data out of India and allowing UK companies to bid for public sector contracts were two key “sticking points” to a comprehensive deal. 

The likelihood of a so-called “thin” trade deal within the symbolic Diwali or October 24 deadline and further “iterative” deals at a later stage was now looking like a likely outcome, the report added. 

“The stumbling blocks are absolutely to do with digital. How ambitious and comprehensive this deal is, is in some way a function of time,” the newspaper quoted an “insider” as saying. 

It follows UK Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch indicating earlier this week that just because there might be an FTA struck with India, it did not mean “we can’t do even more later”. The Department for International Trade (DIT) also reiterated the government’s stance that any FTA would be agreed only if it met the UK’s interests. 

“We remain clear that we won’t sacrifice quality for speed and will only sign when we have a deal that meets the UK’s interests,” a UK government spokesperson had said this week.