The US should sign the free trade agreement with India if Washington is happy with what has been offered by New Delhi, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.

Goyal welcomed the Trump administration’s views on India’s offer, but refrained from giving a deadline for the signing of the long-awaited free trade agreement between the two nations.

The minister was reacting to a comment by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington, who said that the US has received the “best ever” offer from India.

“His happiness is very much welcome. And, I do believe that if they are very happy, they should be signing on the dotted lines,” Goyal told reporters here.

He, however, declined to specify India’s offer to the US.

The minister said there have been five rounds of negotiations with the US on the trade deal, and added that US Deputy Trade Representative Rick Switzer’s ongoing visit to India is not centred around negotiations.

Switzer’s visit to India, his first since taking over three months back, is an effort at getting to know each other well, Goyal said, adding that he had “substantial discussions” with the visiting official.

The minister has been busy notching up FTAs with many countries in the world, including Chile, Israel and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, when asked about chief economic adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran’s assertion that the pact with the US would be signed by March next year, Goyal said he is not aware of the comment and refrained from putting any timeline.

“A deal is only done when both sides stand to benefit. And I don’t think we should ever negotiate with deadlines or hard stops because you tend to make mistakes then,” Goyal said, limiting himself to saying that negotiations with the US are progressing well.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin, Nageswaran said on Thursday: “I was hoping something would be done by the end of November, but it has turned out to be elusive.

“That’s why it is difficult to give a timeline on this. However, I would be surprised if we don’t have it sealed by the end of the financial year.”

On September 18, the CEA told members of two business chambers in Calcutta that he expects the trade deal to be ready by November 30. Those comments had come weeks after Donald Trump jacked up tariff on India to 50 per cent.

On Thursday, India and the US concluded two-day talks with both sides exchanging views on trade-related issues, commerce ministry sources said.

The talks are important as the Trump administration has imposed steep 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods entering American markets.

The outcomes will also have a positive influence on the trajectory of the rupee, which has depreciated to lifetime lows lately and also breached the psychologically important 90-to-a-dollar mark.