Pak, visa, Mallya, smart cities, Masala bonds: Highlights of Modi, May's summit meet

India and UK took a strong stance on terrorism

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday called for action against state sponsors of terrorism as Britain joined India in asking Pakistan to act against terrorists who perpetrated the 2008 Mumbai and 2016 Pathankot terror attacks.

Here are the key highlights of their summit meeting:

1.Terrorsim India and the UK took a strong joint stance on terrorism and security issues. In a joint statement issued after their meeting here, Modi and May "reiterated their call for Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai and the 2016 Pathankot attack to justice".

"The two leaders strongly affirmed that terrorism is a serious threat to humanity and reiterated strong commitment to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. They stressed there can be no justification for acts of terror on any grounds whatsoever -- agreeing that there should be zero tolerance against terrorism," said the statement.

2. India wants Mallya, Lalit Modi back:  Modi and May exchanged lists of  suspects they want extradited from each other's countries. India handed over names of 57 suspects and UK gave a list of 17 they want extradited by India, following which there are expectations that Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi and Christian Michel might face the wrath of Indian justice soon. 

3. Business deals:  India and the UK will ink more than GBP 1 billion (Rs 83,00 crore) of business deals during the three-day visit of British Prime Minister Theresa May, who is here on her first bilateral outside Europe since assuming office in July. This will focus on the dynamic state of Madhya Pradesh – with plans for more smart cities than anywhere else – and the historic city of Varanasi. 

Other key agreements included the two agreeing to invest up to £120 million each in the India-UK sub-fund to finance infrastructure projects in India. May said the UK was investing over £160m across 75 start-up enterprises in India. She also announced £20 million for a Start-Up India Venture Capital Fund. In her speech at the Tech Summit, May said the UK and India didn’t need to wait for Brexit before strengthening trade. However, the Indian side was more cautious and pointed out that the UK cannot discuss a free trade agreement until it officially exits the EU.

4. Masala bonds in London:  Four state-run Indian companies will raise nearly $750 millio through masala bonds to be listed in London over the next three months.The PSU giants headed for the London market are Indian Railway Finance Corporation, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, Energy Efficiency Services Limited and National Highways Authority of India. The bond issues are expected before or by January next year.

5. UN Security Council: Stating that India is a leading power of the world, May reiterated that Britain would like to see India take a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.

6.Visa services for Indian businessmen:  India has been made the first visa-holding country to avail of Britain's Registered Traveller Scheme.

The Registered Traveller Scheme is currently available for nationals from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and the US.

7: No change in visa for students: The British offered New Delhi nothing on its demands to relax visa and immigration rules for its students and skilled workers, particularly information technology professionals. As for student visas, she said that Britain would continue to welcome the "best and brightest" of Indian students.

The statement also said that the two leaders noted that the UK remained a popular destination for Indian students. May noted that there remained no cap on overall numbers of international students studying at recognised educational institutions in the UK.

8. Defence: The joint statement said that the Prime Ministers tasked the Defence Consultative Group (DCG) on November 15-16 to advance the bilateral defence cooperation agenda, including the UK’s proposals for capability partnerships, through a range of activities including military to military cooperation, training, exchange of subject matter experts, research and technology linkages as well as defence manufacturing. The two sides signed two documents pertaining to ease of doing business and intellectual property rights.