UK Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch will today arrive in New Delhi to hold her first face-to-face meeting with Indian counterpart Piyush Goyal over UK-India free trade agreement (FTA). She will ‘kickstart’ the sixth round of trade negotiations, the first formal meeting since July.
This will also be the first meeting since Rishi Sunak took charge as British Prime Minister.
Former British PM Boris Johnson in April set an ambitious target to agree an FTA with India by Diwali in October. But due to his resignation in July and the political crisis in the UK, the deadline was missed.
New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he is committed to getting a deal with India but won't sacrifice quality for speed, reported Reuters.
Kemi Badenoch was appointed to her role in September.
She will address both teams of senior negotiators ahead of the sixth round of formal talks, scheduled to take place throughout the week, reported PTI.
“I’m here in New Delhi to kickstart round six of UK-India trade negotiations and meet my counterpart (Commerce and Industry) Minister Goyal in person to drive progress on this agreement,” said Badenoch in a statement.
She added, “Both nations have come to the table with the very highest of ambitions and a willingness to work together towards a mutually beneficial deal. I’m excited about the opportunities we can create for British business.”
“India and the UK are the 5th and 6th biggest economies in the world. We have a long-shared history and are in pole position to do a deal that will create jobs, encourage growth and boost our 29 billion pounds trading relationship,” she said.
The UK government said the target for the FTA is to achieve a deal to cut tariffs and open opportunities for the UK service sectors such as financial and legal. It added that the step will make it easier for British businesses to sell to the Indian economy, which is set to be the world’s third largest with a middle class of 250 million people by 2050.
Whereas for India, a priority would be more visas to study and work in Britain. Earlier, British interior minister Suella Braverman sparked a debate in October when she said Indians were the largest group of migrants who overstay in the country.
The UK trade secretary will also meet business leaders in India to better understand their needs for a “modern UK-India trade relationship”. This includes a meeting with envoPAP, a UK company investing over 10 million pounds in India to construct a plant producing Fairtrade paper and packaging products.
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The UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT) said it expects a boost in UK exports to India by over 9 billion pounds by the middle of the next decade due to strong growth in the Indian economy.
The department highlighted food chain Pret A Manger and fintech pioneers Tide and Revolut among those with expansion plans for India showing how many UK businesses are already taking advantage of the flourishing trading relationship.
Pret, a popular British coffee and sandwich retailer, is set to open its first branch in India early in 2023 following a franchise partnership with Reliance Brands. Mumbai will be the chain’s first branch as part of a plan to open 100 in total across the country.
“Bringing Pret’s freshly made food and organic coffee to more people around the world is a key part of our transformation strategy, and I’m delighted to be launching Pret in India,” said Pano Christou, CEO of Pret A Manger.
“With strong demand for fresh food and new dining experiences, we see an exciting opportunity to grow the Pret brand across India while also adding something truly unique to its food-to-go market,” he added.
Meanwhile, the UK’s leading small and medium enterprise (SME) focused business financial platform Tide announced the launch of its app as a market entry product in India last week as part of its expansion strategy. India is Tide’s first international market.
Whereas Revolut, a British banking services app, is said to have created more than 300 Indian jobs and plans to create hundreds more in the coming years. It has already invested USD 46 million in the country and recently opened its Indian head office in Bengaluru. It now aims to launch "bespoke" financial products, many of which would be reportedly new to the country.
According to PTI, DIT noted that an India-UK FTA would mean that businesses like Pret would benefit from a “reduction in red tape, more affordable cross-border trade, and increased opportunities to work with Indian companies and suppliers”.
“The UK-India FTA remains a top priority for the industry. We applaud the Secretary of State and Prime Minister for listening and prioritising substance over pace. Trade is a fundamental driver of growth and India will be an important partner and market as the UK looks to escape stagflation, attract skilled labour, and deliver on the green transition,” said Andy Burwell, International Director at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
India-UK bilateral trade currently stands at around 29.6 billion pounds a year, according to official UK government data. Both sides formally launched FTA negotiations at the start of this year with former prime minister Boris Johnson announcing a Diwali deadline for its conclusion.
The talks got delayed due to political turmoil in the country. New British PM Sunak assured finalising the agreement as quickly as possible.
“I discussed the free trade agreement with India, and both the Prime Minister of India and I committed our teams to working as quickly as possible to see if we can bring a successful conclusion to the negotiations,” Sunak told the House of Commons last month.
“Without negotiating all these things in public, I am pleased that the majority of the substantive negotiation conversations were concluded by the end of October. We will now work at pace with the Indian teams to try to resolve the issues and come to a mutually satisfactory conclusion,” he said.
(With PTI Inputs)