MoUs, Deals & Diplomatic Agreements

14.1 Trade Agreements Entering Into Force

Two significant trade agreements crossed the line into force this month. The India–Oman Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) took effect from 1 June 2026, having been signed on 18 December 2025 in Muscat in the presence of PM Modi; it was operationalised in New Delhi with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Oman's Ambassador to India, Issa Saleh Al Shibani, with the first preferential-tariff shipments of agricultural products and gems and jewellery flagged off from Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

The India–United Kingdom Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), together with a Double Contribution Convention (DCC), came into force from 15 June 2026. The agreement traces back through the 2021 Enhanced Trade Partnership and the India–UK Roadmap 2030; after 14 rounds of negotiations it was concluded on 6 May 2025 and formally signed in London on 24 July 2025 by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and UK Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, in the presence of PM Modi and UK PM Keir Starmer. Alongside CETA, India and the UK launched a joint Critical Minerals Global Supply Chain Observatory, announced by Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy and UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, to strengthen cooperation on minerals essential to clean energy and advanced manufacturing.

14.2 Slovakia — A Landmark State Visit

PM Modi's visit to Slovakia was the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the country since its independence in 1993. The two sides elevated bilateral relations to a "Comprehensive Partnership," and signed 11 agreements and MoUs spanning: labour migration; a Letter of Intent on defence cooperation; digital technologies; higher education and research; audio-visual creation and cooperation; quantum communication and critical-infrastructure protection; naturopathy (between Pune's National Institute of Naturopathy and the Slovak Health Spa Piestany); an IIT Delhi–Slovak Technical University cooperation agreement; tourism cooperation; and scientific cooperation between the Indian National Science Academy and the Slovak Academy of Sciences. A standout achievement: the establishment of the first-ever Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Chair in Artificial Intelligence, at the Technical University of Košice.

14.3 Other Bilateral & Multilateral Agreements

• India–Japan: adopted the Rules of Implementation for their bilateral Joint Crediting Mechanism under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, a carbon-market cooperation framework supporting projects that reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions.
• India–Canada: agreed, on the sidelines of the G7 Summit, to launch negotiations on a General Security of Information Agreement (GSOIA) for secure exchange of classified information, and to accelerate talks on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), targeting conclusion in 2026.
• India–Myanmar: covered in Chapter 5, reaffirming cooperation under the Neighbourhood First Policy, Act East Policy and MAHASAGAR initiative.
• India–France: Safran Electronics & Defence (France) partnered with SatSure Analytics India on geospatial-intelligence solutions, launched under the France–India Year of Innovation.

14.4 Domestic Government-to-Government MoUs

Under Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0, the Centre signed reform-linked MoUs with five states and one Union Territory — Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Nagaland and Puducherry, alongside a separate MoU with Sikkim — promoting a Gram Panchayat-led, service-based, community-centred model of rural water governance.

Assam and Nagaland signed a tripartite MoU (with the Centre, in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah and Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri) for joint exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas across six hydrocarbon-rich, disputed fields spanning more than 1,000 square kilometres of their shared border.

West Bengal's Legislative Assembly became the 33rd legislature to join the National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) — a Mission Mode Project of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs to digitise the functioning of Parliament and state legislatures — via a tripartite MoU signed in the presence of Minister Kiren Rijiju.

Gujarat and HUDCO (the Housing and Urban Development Corporation, a Navratna CPSE roughly 75%-owned by the Government of India) signed an MoU for ₹1 lakh crore of long-term infrastructure financing over two years, from May 2026; Gujarat separately signed an MoU with IIM Ahmedabad.

Himachal Pradesh and the UN Development Programme signed an MoU for climate-resilient, inclusive development, covering the circular economy, waste management, electric mobility for waste collection, biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods. Himachal Pradesh also signed 19 hydropower project agreements worth ₹3,336 crore (Chapter 4).

Maharashtra's School Education Department and Google for Education signed an MoU to train more than 4 lakh teachers in AI and digital technologies, using a master-trainer cascade model.

The National Highways Authority of India and the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) signed an MoU to establish NHAI's Research Centre on Transportation, Mobility and Logistics at NCAER's Delhi headquarters — India's first permanent, independent research facility dedicated to transport economics.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India signed an MoU with Israel's Supreme Audit Institution to strengthen public-sector audit cooperation, following a meeting between CAG K. Sanjay Murthy and Israeli State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways signed two MoUs with vehicle manufacturers — Ashok Leyland and its EV subsidiary Switch Mobility, and separately Tata Motors — to implement the government's scheme for replacing old trucks and buses in Delhi-NCR.

Invest India and Invest UP signed a partnership to boost FDI facilitation in Uttar Pradesh, supporting the state's ambition to become a USD 1 trillion economy.

IITM Pune and ARIES Nainital signed an MoU to set up a new Himalayan climate-monitoring station under the Bharat Climate Observation Network, at ARIES Devasthal.

14.5 Corporate & Industry Agreements

• Odisha, Intel Corporation and 3DGS Inc. — the ~USD 3.3 billion semiconductor packaging facility (Chapter 4).
• Reliance Industries and Meta — an AI-enabled hyperscale data centre in Jamnagar (initial capacity 168 MW), Meta's first built-to-suit facility in India.
• Tata Consultancy Services and Mistral AI — TCS became the first global systems integrator partner for Mistral Forge, France's enterprise AI platform, and will establish a Centre of Excellence for Mistral AI.
• Tata Consultancy Services and Canada Life — a multiyear IT-modernisation and managed-services agreement, deploying TCS's AI-driven "Cognix" operations platform.
• Air India and Riyadh Air — an MoU on interline and codeshare connectivity, leveraging hub locations in Delhi, Mumbai and Riyadh.
• RITES Limited and CRISIL — a partnership combining transport-infrastructure engineering expertise with data intelligence and financial due diligence for infrastructure projects.
• Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and IIT Kanpur — joint R&D on next-generation telecom technologies, focused on Direct-to-Mobile broadcasting and indigenous 4G development.
• Jeh Aerospace and Solestra Group (USA) — a multi-year, multi-million-dollar agreement for a Global Manufacturing Centre in Hyderabad.
• Essar Group and International Resources Holding (Abu Dhabi) — a USD 500 million crude-oil and product sourcing facility agreement between Essar Energy Transition Fuels and IRH Global Trading.
• Rapido and the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways — an awareness partnership for the "Rahveer" scheme (which rewards bystanders who help accident victims during the "Golden Hour"); more than 4 lakh Rapido captains took the Rahveer Pledge, setting a Guinness World Record.
• IIT Bombay and SUNY Old Westbury (USA) — a Letter of Intent for research collaboration in engineering, AI and multidisciplinary fields.
• NSE and Bharat Metal Exchange — covered in Chapter 2.

Chapter 14 Quiz

1. From what date did the India–Oman CEPA come into force? — 1 June 2026
2. What two agreements between India and the UK took effect on 15 June 2026? — CETA and the Double Contribution Convention
3. How many agreements/MoUs did India sign with Slovakia during PM Modi's landmark visit? — 11
4. Where was India's first-ever ICCR Chair in Artificial Intelligence established? — The Technical University of Košice, Slovakia
5. Which Indian company became the first global systems-integrator partner for Mistral Forge? — Tata Consultancy Services
6. What is the total value of Gujarat's infrastructure financing MoU with HUDCO? — ₹1 lakh crore over two years
7. Which company partnered with Reliance Industries on an AI-enabled data centre in Jamnagar? — Meta
8. Which scheme did Rapido's Guinness World Record-setting pledge campaign support? — The "Rahveer" Golden Hour accident-response scheme