New Delhi, May 19 -- On 6 May, India and the UK concluded a free trade agreement (FTA) that for the first time locks enforceable digital-trade disciplines. The pact signals that New Delhi plans to help shape rather than react to rules of the global digital economy.

How we got here: For two decades, India avoided binding commitments in services and advanced technology markets. Protection of domestic regulatory space kept us outside the WTO's plurilateral Trade in Services Agreement and the second Information Technology Agreement. That caution let India nurture its export-oriented information technology (IT) services, while retaining industrial-policy levers such as today's performance-linked incentives for smartphones.

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