India and the UK advance FTA negotiations, announcing 17 new trade and investment deals worth £41 billion across key sectors
New Delhi: Amind the shadow of tariff threats from the US President Donald Trump, India is working on various free trade agreements or FTAs to enhance export opportunities and strengthen market access for domestic industries. As India has already inked several free trade deals and preferential trade pacts so far, 17 more new export and investment deals were announced by UK in the recent India-UK trade agreements where both the countries aim to benefit by reducing tariffs and expanding cooperation in several sectors, including technology, healthcare, and education among others.
India has already signed 13 free trade agreements and six preferential trade pacts to boost exports and provide greater market access for domestic industries. Since 2014, the country has signed FTAs with Mauritius, the UAE, Australia, and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). India is also actively negotiating similar deals with the UK and the European Union. On February 24, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and UK Secretary of state for Business and trade Jonathan Reynolds announced the resumption of negotiations for the India-UK FTA during visits to India this week.
In May 2021, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed deeper trade co-operation between the two countries. This “Enhanced Trade Partnership” removed a number of trade barriers and set out the two countries' intention to work towards a free trade agreement. In the recent deals, UK’s trade minister Jonathan Reynolds and investment minister Poppy Gustafsson have announced 17 new export and investment deals with India. "There are already over 950 Indian-owned companies operating in the UK and over 650 UK companies operating in India, cumulatively supporting over 6 lakh jobs across both economies," British High Commission said in a release on Wednesday.
As per the release, recent Indian investments in the UK valued at over £100 million in total are expected to create hundreds of new jobs over the next three years in a range of sectors including AI, professional services and textiles. These investments are proof of global investor confidence of doing business in the UK. "Both UK and India have committed trade deal worth £41 billion in the 12 months to September 2024," it said.
The release further said that UK insurance companies in particular have gained more potential to expand in India following the recent Indian budget, which increased the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) permitted in the insurance sector from 74 per cent to 100 per cent. The UK has the third largest technology economy in the world, and a number of UK technology companies have also announced expansion into India, accelerating their growth journey," it added.
“Tech and life sciences are two huge growth sectors for the UK economy. I’m proud that government support has helped some of our finest businesses in these sectors to expand into the exciting Indian market. It’s great to see them going for growth, and their successes will amount to tens of millions of pounds for the UK economy," Reynolds said in the statement.
