Leather, textiles, pharma shares rise post India-UK landmark FTA deal

Leather, textile and pharma stocks rose on Friday, a day after India and the UK inked a historic free trade agreement (FTA) on July 24. It is India's most ambitious trade agreement to date, covering 26 sectors from tariffs to technology.

The deal, which comes days ahead of the US moratorium on higher tariffs ending, aims to double the $56 billion trade between the world's fifth and sixth largest economies by 2030.

Among leather-related stocks, Mirza International surged 16.58% to an intra-day high of ₹38.40 apiece on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). It was followed by Superhouse Ltd, which soared 6.26%, and AKI India (4.93%).

Textile sector shares were trading green, with Trident rising 6.75%, S P Apparels jumping 6.51%, and Pearl Global Industries increasing 0.94%.

Among the pharma players, Cipla shares surged 4.16% to an intra-day high of ₹1,549.80 apiece, after reporting a 10% year-on-year (YoY) growth in consolidated net profit to ₹1,298 crore in Q1FY26, compared to ₹1,178 crore in the year-ago period.

It was followed by shares of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, which soared 1.82%, Aurobindo Pharma (1.49%), Lupin (0.91%), Sun Pharma (0.59%), and Zydus Lifesciences (1.1%), which were also trading in the positive territory.

The NIFTY Pharma index sat at the 22,693.15 level, up 152.10 points or 0.67%, at around 2:11 pm.

The India-UK pact has many things which were agreed upon by India for the first time, including the slashing of import duties on automobiles, and the inclusion of chapters like Trade and Gender Equality. It covers areas such as tariffs, services, digital trade, intellectual property, and government procurement.

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is India's 16th and one of its most wide-ranging trade agreements. The pact is aimed at doubling bilateral trade in goods and services to $112 billion from $56 billion at present.

While India has opened its market to various consumer goods, including chocolates, biscuits, and cosmetics, it will gain greater access to export products such as textiles, footwear, gems and jewellery, sports goods, and toys.