SheTrades Knowledge
Insights and resources for women entrepreneurs, corporates, agricultural stakeholders & policymakers
April 3, 2026
Making the United Kingdom–India CETA Work for Women: Opportunities, Risks and Policy Pathways
The UK-India Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA), signed on 24 July 2025, is the institutional culmination of a four-year negotiation. Formal negotiations opened on 13 January 2022, following the 2021 Enhanced Trade Partnership between Prime Ministers Modi and Johnson, with an agreement in principle reached on 6 May 2025 after 14 rounds of talks. India is the UK’s fourth largest export market; the UK is India’s eleventh largest trading partner, with total bilateral trade worth £47.4 billion ($63.6 billion) annually (UK Department for Business and Trade, 2026).
This paper examines how the UK-India CETA can translate its gender commitments into tangible economic opportunities for women, highlighting the Trade and Gender Equality chapter as a framework to strengthen women’s participation in trade.
It identifies sectors with the greatest export potential – apparel and textiles, gems and jewellery, electronics and machinery, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and horticulture, processed food, and beverages – and analyses the structural, regulatory and market barriers that limit women’s ability to benefit from new market access opportunities
This paper examines how the UK-India CETA can translate its gender commitments into tangible economic opportunities for women, highlighting the Trade and Gender Equality chapter as a framework to strengthen women’s participation in trade.
It identifies sectors with the greatest export potential – apparel and textiles, gems and jewellery, electronics and machinery, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and horticulture, processed food, and beverages – and analyses the structural, regulatory and market barriers that limit women’s ability to benefit from new market access opportunities
Pages: 40
Size: 5.3 MB
About SheTrades Outlook
SheTrades Outlook is an innovative policy tool that promotes more inclusive policies and data. It helps stakeholders assess, monitor, and improve the institutional ecosystem for women’s participation in international trade through quantitative and qualitative data based on 55 indicators under six pillars (trade policy, business environment, legal and regulatory framework, access to finance, access to skills and work and society).
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