India-UK FTA: For India, it boosts labour-intensive exports and opens a major Western market. For the UK, it deepens economic ties with a fast-growing economy and showcases the post-Brexit trade strategy in action.
Falling cotton prices augur well for India’s yarn spinning and weaving mills that are seeing demand improvement in domestic and overseas markets
Indian and British officials are engaged in hectic parleys to clinch a trade deal before the two nations go to the polls this year
Indian businesses are demanding greater access to the UK market for its qualified workers from areas such as IT and healthcare, as well as market access for a variety of commodities at zero customs duties
The bilateral trade between India and the UK increased to USD 20.36 billion in 2022-23 from USD 17.5 billion in 2021-22.
Migration and visas remain a sticking point in India-UK Free Trade Agreement - discussions between PM Narendra Modi and Rishi Sunak expected to provide impetus to finalize the FTA this year.
Ahead of his first visit to India as UK Prime Minister to attend the G20 World Leaders Summit in New Delhi later this week, Sunak updated his top team on the ongoing trade talks which have completed 12 rounds of negotiations.
The Department for International Trade (DIT) issued the update on Saturday following the sixth round of FTA negotiations wrapped up in New Delhi last week.