New Delhi, Feb. 20 -- India may treat investment treaties separate from free trade deals so as to prevent partners from using the former as a bargaining chip to get concessions for the later and vice versa, indicating a new approach in ongoing talks with the UK , the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union, officials said.
Negotiations for free trade agreements (FTAs) often include a separate chapter on the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), which is sometimes used as a negotiating card. But trade matters are often different from issues pertaining to BITs. Investment protection treaties could be in conflict with sovereign functions such as taxation . Hence, there is a school of thought that BITs should be negotiated separately rathe...