In this episode of Interpreting India, Dinakar Peri is joined by Mohan Kumar, former Indian Ambassador to France and a veteran trade negotiator, to unpack the newly concluded India–EU Free Trade Agreement and why he describes it as the “mother of all trade deals” for India. Kumar explains why the agreement is strategically significant, why the timing matters, and what it signals about India’s trade posture, competitiveness, and broader alignment between trade, technology, and security.Why is the India–EU FTA seen as India’s most consequential trade deal to date? Why did it take so long to conclude, and what explains the timing now? How do EU regulations shape market access, and what does “meeting standards” really require for Indian exporters? What is included in the deal, what is left out, and why were those exclusions important to getting it across the line?