India Uk Relation

India-UK trade talks begin: FTA, BIT, social-security pact on the table

India had requested the UK to consider a social-security agreement two years ago, but talks were launched only on Monday

India, UK to resume negotiations on proposed trade agreement from Feb 24

After a gap of over eight months, India and the UK will resume negotiations for a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) here from February 24, an official said. UK's Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds will be here for resumption of the talks. He will hold a bilateral meeting with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, the official said. The India-UK FTA negotiations were launched on January 13, 2022. Total 13 rounds of negotiations have been held till December 2023. The 14th round, which began on January 10, 2024, was underway when negotiations were paused by the UK side in May 2024 due to elections in that country. The talks would resume the discussions from the progress achieved previously and seek to bridge the gaps for expeditiously closing the trade deal, the official added. The agreement is aimed at boosting bilateral trade and investments. In such pacts, two countries either eliminate or significantly reduce customs duties on maximum goods trad

India, EU to hold next round of talks on proposed FTA from Mar 10

India and the European Union will hold the next round of talks on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) from March 10 to 14, a senior government official said on Monday. Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce L Satya Srinivas said that before the round the entire delegation of the European Commission will be in India from February 28. Days before the visit of the European Commission team, UK's Minister of State for Trade Policy Douglas Alexander will be in India for a meeting with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on February 24. On February 25th, officials of India and UK will restart talks on the free trade agreement. "We have taken stock of where we left in the last round (14th) and will take it forward during the visit," Satya Srinivas said. India and the UK have held 14 rounds of negotiations on the FTA since its launch in January 2022.

Tata Group's N Chandrasekaran honoured with UK's Most Excellent OBE honour

Natarajan Chandrasekaran has been the Chairman of Tata Sons since 2017, having joined its board in October 2016

India-UK FTA is the floor of relationship, not ceiling: UK trade envoy

The Free Trade Agreement between India and the United Kingdom is the floor of the relationship between the two countries and it's not the ceiling of their ambitions, Harjinder Kang, UK's Trade Commissioner for South Asia said. Kang, the British Deputy High Commissioner for Western India, said several ministerial visits are lined up in February. The proposed visits include Jonathan Reynolds, the Secretary of State for Business & Trade; Poppy Gustafsson, UK Investment Minister Secretary of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero; Vernon Coaker, Minister of State for Defence of the United Kingdom and Alastair King, the Lord Mayor of the City of London. He said not a single day goes by without an FTA-related conversation. "It's a conversation that we have regularly. Some of you know that I was the UK's chief negotiator before I came here to do this role and it's an amazing experience about the two industries, sectors, two economies, the two governments and how they ...

UK strengthens India defence ties with new initiative, dedicated MoD office

India-UK strategic partnership gets a fillip with the formal launch of 'Defence Partnership-India', the signing of agreements at Aero India 2025, and a dedicated programme office within the UK's MoD

India-UK free trade agreement negotiations likely to resume this month

UK Trade Secy Jonathan Reynolds-led team may travel to Delhi on Feb 24

UK businesses 'encouraged' by Budget focus on growth, trust-based approach

The Union Budget tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha on Saturday has been received with much enthusiasm within the UK business and investor community, with the focus on economic growth, boosting private investment and a trust-based economic governance approach being highlighted among some of the stand-out proposals. In what marked Sitharaman's eighth consecutive Union Budget, the minister announced key allocations and policy measures across crucial sectors. Richard McCallum, CEO of UK India Business Council (UKIBC), highlighted a focus on simplifying conditionalities associated with foreign direct investment (FDI), skilling and policy reforms among some early takeaways. I'm encouraged by the focus on economic growth, on invigorating private investment [because] we do need more private investment for growth to be sustainable, on skilling and stimulating more consumer spending. We also welcome the focus on domains like tax administration and policy reform, ..

India, UK to enhance bilateral cooperation in healthcare, life sciences

India and the UK have agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation in the field of healthcare and life sciences as strategic partners with strong links in the area, with a specific aim of strengthening collaboration in the health technology and innovation sectors. The Health and Life Sciences Partnership' signed by UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting in London on Thursday will cover a broad range of areas, including digitisation and innovation across the country's state-funded National Health Service (NHS). This will strengthen the UK's partnership of cooperation with India on healthcare innovation and health security, said the UK's Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). The memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed by Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda at the Delhi end, will also cover joint research, information sharing and cooperation through multilateral fora in areas such as antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The Health and Life Sciences agreement ...

FTA talks with India have been relaunched: UK govt tells Parliament

The UK government on Tuesday told Parliament that the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks with India have been relaunched to deliver a joint ambition of taking the bilateral relationship to even greater heights. During a debate on UK economic growth in the House of Commons, British Indian Labour MP Jeevun Sandher asked Foreign Secretary David Lammy about the steps being taken to get a good UK-India trade deal over the line. Describing 2025 as an exciting year for the UK's trading relationship with India, the co-chair of the India All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) flagged the exchange of green technologies to help prevent and reduce the warming of our planet among the areas of focus. We are two nations with an intertwined history and common democratic ideals and we face the risks of a dangerous world and a warming planet, said Sandher, a first-time member of Parliament from Loughborough, in the East Midlands region of England. In response, Lammy pointed to his India visit within wee

'BIT, free trade agreement 2 separate pacts; should continue to remain so'

Demands of certain developed countries from India to negotiate 'investment protection' elements under an FTA is inappropriate as negotiating the matter as part of a separate chapter under the trade pact could have larger and detrimental implications, source said. Legally speaking, they said, the investment protection element provides a wide range of obligations and commitments bestowed upon foreign investors, which are expansive in nature. "Recently, a lot has been heard about countries that are desiring India to negotiate 'investment protection' elements vis-a-vis investment chapter as part of the free trade agreement (FTA). However, this is incorrect," one of the sources said. For instance, the European Union (EU) has been negotiating a separate investment protection agreement or treaty with India, and not as part of the India-EU free trade agreement. "Having 'investment protection' as a chapter of a FTA could have larger and detrimental implications even on the trade agreements'

PM Modi speaks to King Charles, reaffirms India-UK strategic partnership

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday spoke to UK's King Charles and reaffirmed India's commitment to strengthening the comprehensive strategic partnership. During their discussion, they reflected on the historic relationship and emphasized their shared goal of fostering deeper collaboration in various areas. They reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two nations which has been a cornerstone of bilateral relations, according to an official statement. The conversation also touched upon the Commonwealth of Nations, with both leaders exchanging views on the outcomes of the recently concluded Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Samoa. Both countries are key members of the Commonwealth and the dialogue highlighted their dedication to advancing the organization's goals. Climate action and sustainability emerged as pivotal topics during the exchange. Prime Minister Modi praised King Charles III for his ..

UK PM Starmer hosts group of Indian investors, CEOs at Downing Street

The visit follows Starmer's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G20 where they committed to take forward an ambitious UK-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

UK-India business boosted by prospect of free trade agreement, says HSBC

In the nine months to October, HSBC's UK unit received 36 per cent more business client referrals from its arm in India

India, UK convene second 2+2 Foreign and Defence Dialogue in Delhi

The second India-UK 2+2 Foreign and Defence Dialogue convened in New Delhi on Tuesday, underscoring the growing strategic partnership between the two nations.The Indian delegation was led by Piyush Srivastava, Joint Secretary, Europe West, Ministry of External Affairs, and Vishwesh Negi, Joint Secretary, International Cooperation, Ministry of Defence, according to the Ministry of External Affairs press release.Representing the UK were Ben Mellor, India Director, Indian Ocean Directorate, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and Shimon Fhima, Director Strategic Programmes, Ministry of Defence.Discussions revolved around the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and highlighted the significance of sustained high-level engagement to advance the bilateral relationship.Both delegations reviewed progress under the India-UK Roadmap 2030 and emphasized revitalizing the partnership by identifying new areas of collaboration, added the release.Randhir Jaiswal, official spokesperson of

India, UK sign framework pact for electric propulsion systems for warships

India and the UK have sealed a framework agreement to co-design and co-produce electric propulsion systems to be used in futuristic warships in sync with their aim to broad-base cooperation in the strategic domain. A Statement of Intent (SoI) was inked for the proposed plan by the defence ministries of the two countries in Portsmouth on Thursday, an Indian readout of the development said. The SoI would serve as a broader framework intended for cooperation in the co-design, co-creation and co-production of electric propulsion capability for future naval ships, it said. "The landing platform docks, planned to be built at an Indian shipyard, are envisaged to have a full electric propulsion system," the readout issued by the defence ministry on Friday said. "The signing was part of the third joint working group meeting of electric propulsion capability partnership, symbolising the commitment to promote indigenous development of niche technologies," it said. From the Indian side, the S

India a very important business partner: UK Warwick Group Dean Robin Clark

Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav visited the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), at Warwick University in London, UK and interacted with Professor Robin Clark

India-UK FTA talks likely to restart in January amid complex issues

Issues like labour, environment remain tricky as talks may begin in Jan

India-UK FTA talks: Both sides seek to bridge gaps to close deal swiftly

India and the UK would seek to bridge the differences for expeditious conclusion of the proposed free trade agreement as Britain has announced resuming the negotiations early next year, an official statement said on Wednesday. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that trade talks with India will relaunch in the new year, following his bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G20 Summit in Brazil. Starmer and Modi met on the sidelines of the summit in Rio de Janeiro on Monday, after which Downing Street said the UK will seek a new strategic partnership with India, including a trade agreement. The India-UK talks for the proposed FTA began in January 2022. The 14th round of talks stalled as the two nations stepped into their general election cycles. "We welcome the announcement by the UK to relaunch the India-UK free trade talks in the new year," the commerce ministry said. Noting the importance for securing a balanced, mutually beneficial and forward .

UK reiterates support for India's permanent seat at UN Security Council

The UK has reiterated its support for permanent membership for India in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as part of an expansion of the international panel to ensure it can continue to rise to the pressing challenges faced by the world. In an address to a UN General Assembly plenary in New York on Monday, UK Ambassador to the General Assembly Archie Young reflected upon Prime Minister Keir Starmer's statement at the UNGA back in September calling for UNSC reforms to ensure the global multilateral system is more representative and more responsive. Besides India, Young stressed that the UK wants permanent representation for Africa, Brazil, Germany and Japan. The UK believes that a reformed Council, coupled with a collective, renewed commitment to the UN Charter, would strengthen the Council, so it can continue to rise to the challenges the world is facing; that is why we remain a strong supporter of UN Security Council Reform. The Council must be expanded, to better reflect