UK-INDIA Prime Ministers Unveil Reinvigorated Partnership
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is set to meet Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi today [24 July] to sign the landmark UK-India trade deal and unveil a renewed Comprehensive Strategic Partnership – the UK-India Vision 2035 – taking our relationship to new heights in a time of rapid global change.
The trade deal, which is forecast to boost bilateral trade by £25.5 billion yearly, is both India’s most comprehensive deal ever, and the UK’s most economically significant bilateral trade deal since leaving the EU. It significantly improves market access for businesses in both countries, leading to cheaper products and services for consumers.
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And the UK and India’s ambitious new vision for 2035 will go beyond trade, with reinvigorated mutual commitment to drive prosperity and innovation, deepen defence cooperation through a new Defence Industrial roadmap, work together to secure our borders, tackle climate change and nurture educational connections.
Marking exactly one year since the countries signed the landmark UK-India Technology Security Initiative, the Prime Ministers will also commit to further strengthen national security by harnessing frontier technologies and shaping the technologies of tomorrow.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “Our landmark trade deal with India is a major win for Britain. It will create thousands of British jobs across the UK, unlock new opportunities for businesses and drive growth in every corner of the country, delivering on our Plan for Change.
“We’re putting more money in the pockets of hardworking Brits and helping families with the cost of living, and we’re determined to go further and faster to grow the economy and raise living standards across the UK.”
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “India is one of the fastest growing global economies in the world and an emerging economic superpower of the 21st century.
“The historic trade deal we have signed today is the most comprehensive deal India has ever agreed – putting the UK in the best position to partner with India over the next decade, promising to unlock thousands of jobs and boost growth across both economies.
“The nearly £6 billion in new investment and export wins announced today are a sign of things to come, as future collaboration expands into advanced technologies, critical minerals, green finance, and beyond.”
Thanks to the trade deal, Indian consumers will benefit from improved access to the best British products – from soft drinks and cosmetics to cars and medical devices – as average tariffs will drop from 15% to 3%. The UK already imports £11 billion in goods from India but liberalised tariffs on Indian goods will make it easier and cheaper for British consumers and businesses to buy Indian products and boost Indian businesses’ exports to the UK.
The UK’s clean energy industry will have brand new, unprecedented access to India’s vast procurement market as the country makes the switch to renewable energy and continues to see growing energy demand.
For financial and professional business services, locked in access will offer certainty to expand in India’s growing market and measures such as binding India’s foreign investment cap for the insurance sector, ensuring UK financial services companies are treated on an equal footing with domestic suppliers.
Twenty-six British companies have announced new business in India. Airbus & Rolls-Royce will soon begin delivering Airbus aircraft – with over half powered by Rolls-Royce engines – to major Indian airlines as part of around £5 million worth of contracts recently agreed.
As part of the reinvigorated partnership, the UK and India have also agreed to strengthen cooperation in tackling corruption, serious fraud, organised crime, and irregular migration through enhanced intelligence sharing and operational collaboration.
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