New Delhi, Oct. 13 -- Trade ministers of India and the United Kingdom on Monday said their shared ambition was to double bilateral trade by 2030, as both countries committed to harnessing opportunities created by the free trade agreement (FTA) that entered into force on July 15. "2030 should not just reflect the end of this decade, it should be the beginning of much greater ambition," commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said while jointly addressing business leaders at the business plenary of the Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) with British secretary of state for business and trade Jonathan Reynolds.While the ministers did not specify a target in monetary terms, publicly available government data suggests the ambition is to double overall bilateral trade in goods and services from around $60 billion to $120 billion by 2030. According to data released by the commerce ministry on July 15, bilateral trade between India and the UK stood at around $60.56 billion. This comprised $25.12 billion in two-way goods trade in 2025-26 and $35.44 billion in bilateral services trade in 2024. In a statement, the UK government said total trade between the two countries in the 12 months to March 2026 was worth £48 billion, an increase of £3 billion year-on-year in current prices.After 14 rounds of negotiations that began in May 2021, the two countries formally signed the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on July 24, 2025. A separate Double Contribution Convention (DCC), also known as the social security agreement, was signed on February 10, 2026. Goyal and Reynolds co-chaired the 16th meeting of the India-UK JETCO in New Delhi to advance their shared trade and economic priorities. Goyal said the two sides had emphasised the importance of effectively using CETA, addressing trade barriers and strengthening business-to-business engagement.htc...