In a move that signals a seismic shift in global trade dynamics, the European Union and India today concluded negotiations for a historic and ‘commercially significant’ Free Trade Agreement (FTA). As the largest deal ever brokered by either side, the pact creates a massive free trade zone encompassing 2 billion people and the world's second and fourth largest economies.

While the agreement spans sectors from agriculture to pharmaceuticals, it is the automotive industry that stands as the centrepiece of this industrial realignment.

Cracking the 110% tariff wall

For decades, European automakers have struggled against India’s formidable trade barriers. Under the new agreement, these hurdles are set to crumble. India has committed to a radical reduction in car tariffs, which currently sit at a staggering 110 percent. According to the official release, these duties will be gradually slashed to as low as 10 percent.

Furthermore, the deal provides a massive boost to the automotive supply chain. Tariffs on car parts – a critical sector for European manufacturers – will be fully abolished within a 5-to-10-year window. This move is expected to integrate Indian and European manufacturing hubs more closely than ever before.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the deal as a milestone for rules-based cooperation. "The EU and India make history today. We have sent a signal to the world that rules-based cooperation still delivers great outcomes," she said.

With a population of 1.45 billion and a GDP of EUR 3.4 trillion, India is currently the world’s fastest-growing large economy. This FTA grants European carmakers and industrial firms a ‘privileged access’ that no other Indian trading partner currently enjoys.

Beyond the finished vehicles, the deal addresses the broader industrial ecosystem:

• Machinery & Chemicals: Tariffs of up to 44 percent on machinery and 22 percent on chemicals will be mostly eliminated.
• SME Support: Dedicated contact points will be established to help smaller European component manufacturers navigate the Indian market.
• Intellectual Property: The agreement guarantees high-level protection for designs and trade secrets, providing the legal certainty required for high-tech automotive transfers and R&D investment.

The deal is not merely about volume; it is about the future of mobility. A dedicated chapter on trade and sustainable development focuses on climate change and environmental protection.

To support India’s transition toward sustainable industrialisation – a move critical for the electric vehicle (EV) sector – the EU intends to provide EUR 500 million in support over the next two years. Additionally, a new EU-India platform for climate action cooperation is slated to launch in early 2026, likely serving as a catalyst for joint ventures in green hydrogen and battery technology.

The EU expects the deal to double its goods exports to India by 2032, saving European businesses approximately EUR 4 billion per year in duties.

The path to implementation now moves to the legal and political stage. The negotiated texts will undergo legal revision and translation before being presented to the European Council and the European Parliament for consent. On the Indian side, the agreement will move toward formal ratification.

After nearly two decades of stop-and-start negotiations – beginning in 2007 and relaunching in 2022 – the road is finally clear for a new era of Euro-Indian industrial synergy.

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German luxury carmaker Porsche confirmed its financial forecast for the 2026 fiscal year and provided preliminary insights into its new ‘Strategy 2035’ at its 4^th Annual General Meeting held on 23 June 2026.

The strategy is designed to enhance profitability and strategic resilience through three primary pillars as outlined by Dr. Michael Leiters, CEO, Porsche, with full details to be presented at a Capital Markets Day on 7 October 2026.

• Brand & Customer: Porsche will refocus on its sports car DNA, design and exclusivity. The strategy shifts away from volume maximisation toward a focus on desirability and value.
• Products & Technology: The company plans to reduce model complexity by cutting the number of variants. Porsche will continue to invest in combustion, hybrid and electric powertrains, noting that the 911 will remain combustion-hybrid and will not move to a fully electric powertrain.
• Company & Operations: Porsche is structurally streamlining its organisation at all levels and investigating increased use of Volkswagen Group modular platforms. Discussions are ongoing regarding workforce adjustments to ensure long-term competitiveness.

Despite a challenging market environment, Porsche confirmed the financial targets for 2026 including 5.5 percent to 7.5 percent (factoring in EUR 800–900 million in one-off expenses and EUR 700 million in tariff costs) operating group return on sales. Group sales revenue to come at EUR 35-36 billion with automotive net cash-flow margin of 3 percent to 5 percent.

Furthermore, the Board of Directors of Porsche have proposed a dividend of EUR 1.00 per ordinary share and EUR 1.01 per preferred share for FY2025. While this payout exceeds the target ratio of 50 percent of consolidated profit after tax, it represents a decrease compared to the previous year, reflecting a move to maintain financial flexibility during the current transformation phase.

Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, reaffirmed his backing of CEO Dr. Michael Leiters, emphasising that while the necessary restructuring measures may be ‘uncomfortable,’ but they are essential for the company's future success.

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Ashok Leyland Foundation is expanding its education-focused corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives with an ambition to reach a million learners across India, betting that community-led implementation and teacher capacity building can help bridge persistent learning gaps in government schools.

The foundation, which has impacted more than 626,000 students in FY2025-26 and over 910,000 lives overall, is scaling its flagship Road-to-School and Road-to-Livelihood programmes across multiple states.

The initiatives focus on foundational literacy and numeracy, digital literacy, career guidance, sports, wellness and life skills primarily for students from underserved communities.

While India has made significant investments in school education, the biggest challenge lies not in curriculum design but in execution, according to T Sasikumar, Chief Operating Officer, Ashok Leyland Foundation.

“The government curriculum and the programme content are top class. Most governments have excellent curriculum. It is only the implementation part where the failure actually happens,” Sasikumar told Motoring Trends.

According to him, two structural issues continue to affect learning outcomes in many parts of the country viz-a-viz teacher availability and teacher commitment.

“The two gaps that we see today are the availability of qualified, competent teachers and the commitment levels in schools. Otherwise, the curriculum in the country for school children is excellent,” he said.

The challenge becomes more acute in remote districts, where sanctioned teaching positions often remain vacant in practice.

“When you move to Jharkhand or interior Uttar Pradesh, you'll find teachers are on the rolls but never come to the school," Sasikumar said.

The foundation has adopted a community-based model, recruiting resource persons from villages where the programmes operate instead of relying on external educators to address the problem.

The organisation hires local graduates, teacher-training candidates and in some cases Class XII pass-outs providing them with training before deploying them in government schools.

“After we exit the programme, these young people continue to live in the community and continue to serve it. That has been one of the major successes of our model,” Sasikumar said.

The strategy complements the foundation's Road-to-School programme, which has benefited nearly 492,339 students across 4,234 schools in nine states since 2015. The programme reports a 25-30 percent improvement in literacy and numeracy, a 98 percent transition rate from middle to high school and Grade 10 completion rates of 95 percent exceeding the national average of 85 percent.

Its Road-to-Livelihood initiative is operating across five states and has reached more than 133,700 students by providing career guidance, digital literacy, financial literacy and soft-skills training.

The programme reports that 85 percent of participating students enrolled in higher education of their choice, while more than half of female participants opted for STEM courses.

Beyond deploying community educators, the foundation is also exploring teacher capacity-building partnerships with state governments.

Sasikumar said discussions are underway with the Uttar Pradesh government to train government school teachers using the foundation's pedagogical model.

“The Principal Secretary asked us why we don't train government teachers using our model so that the sustainability part can be taken care of. We are working on teacher capacity-building programmes in states where regulations permit,” he said.

Apart from education, the foundation has expanded its CSR interventions into healthcare and environmental sustainability, supporting children with Type-I diabetes, operating 13 mobile medical units, planting more than one lakh trees and implementing water conservation projects in water-scarce regions.

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Tsuyo Manufacturing, an e-mobility component manufacturer, has appointed Prashant Ranjan as Director In-Charge – Sales & Service. The appointment is intended to strengthen the company’s leadership team and accelerate growth within India's electric mobility sector.

In his new role, Ranjan will lead domestic business operations, focusing on market expansion, business development, customer engagement and the creation of a service excellence network.

Ranjan brings experience from organisations including Saint-Gobain, Wipro and Godrej, where he led business transformation and revenue growth initiatives.

Prashant Ranjan, said, "India's electric mobility sector is entering a transformative phase, driven by innovation, policy support, and increasing consumer adoption. Tsuyo has established itself as a key player in the e-mobility component ecosystem through its strong manufacturing capabilities and technology-led approach. I am excited to join the organisation at this important stage of growth and look forward to working closely with the team to contribute to the company's long-term vision of accelerating India's transition towards sustainable mobility."

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Maruti Suzuki India Limited has formalised an agreement with Gujarat’s Directorate of Employment and Training to establish Advanced Manufacturing Labs within five Industrial Training Institutes located in Palanpur, Bhavnagar, Surendranagar, Godhra and Dahod. This partnership is structured under the company’s corporate social responsibility framework and directly supports the national Skill India mission.

These specialised labs are engineered to mirror actual shop-floor conditions, offering trainees practical exposure to critical automotive processes including assembly, welding, painting, machining, mechatronics and safety protocols. The overarching goal is to elevate the employability of ITI graduates and cultivate a workforce that is immediately adaptable to the demands of modern manufacturing.

This educational initiative coincides with a massive production scale-up in Gujarat. Maruti Suzuki is preparing to activate a fourth production line at its Hansalpur facility this year, which will boost annual capacity to one million units from the current 750,000. Concurrently, a new manufacturing plant with an additional one-million-unit capacity is under construction in Sanand, positioning the state to eventually host a total annual production volume of two million vehicles.

The company’s commitment to skill development is already extensive, supporting 31 ITIs nationwide in manufacturing trades. The addition of the five Gujarat labs will increase the total count of Advanced Manufacturing Labs to 23 across seven states and union territories. Furthermore, the automaker sustains four Japan-India Institutes for Manufacturing in Gujarat and Haryana, a bilateral initiative designed to generate a robust talent pipeline for the industry.

Rahul Bharti, Senior Executive Officer, Corporate Affairs, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, said, “Maruti Suzuki aligns with the Government of India’s flagship Skill India mission to impart the relevant skill training to create livelihood opportunities for the youth. Through Advanced Manufacturing Labs, we are equipping students with experiential learning and confidence in modern equipment, nurturing professionals who can seamlessly integrate into the evolving automotive ecosystem. We have a robust plan to expand manufacturing operations in the State. Each expansion brings with it a new industrial ecosystem, one that demands skilled and future-ready workforce. The Advanced Manufacturing Labs will play a pivotal role in meeting this latent need and ensuring that talent is ready to meet the industry demands.”

Stuti Charan, IAS, Director, DET, Government of Gujarat, said, “Maruti Suzuki, while being the market leader, has consistently demonstrated its commitment to skill development in India. By setting up Advanced Manufacturing Labs in Gujarat’s ITIs, Maruti Suzuki is bridging the gap between classroom learning and industry requirements. This initiative will empower our youth and strengthen Gujarat’s position as a hub for the automotive sector, in line with Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of Viksit Bharat and Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Bhupendrabhai Patel’s guidance toward Viksit Gujarat 2047. The momentum and support from Hon’ble Cabinet Minister Shri Kunwarjibhai Mohanbhai Bavaliya, Labour, Skill Development & Employment, Hon’ble State Minister Shri Kantibhai Amrutiya Labour, Skill Development and Hon'ble Secretary Shri Lochan Sahera, Labour, Skill Development are paving the way for future-ready learning skills that match the pace of global development.”

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