LONDON: A trade deal being negotiated with India is “possible” to be concluded before a general election in the country but Britain does not want to use that as a deadline, UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch has said.

The minister in charge of signing off on the free trade agreement (FTA), now in its 14th round of negotiations, pointed to India’s “protectionist economy “ in comparison with the UK’s liberalised regime as one of the factors behind the long-drawn discussions.

Badenoch, who was speaking during a Global Trade conference at the think tank Chatham House on Thursday, stressed that she wanted to ensure a “commercially meaningful” pact as opposed to just a pre-election picture opportunity.

On the timeline for getting to the finishing line with the talks with India, she added: “We can actually sign an agreement before the Indian election. I suspect that that is not necessarily going to be the case because I don’t want to use any election as a deadline.