India’s commerce minister, Piyush Goyal, has announced that India is on track to conclude a long-awaited trade agreement with the UK by October. In an agreement that has been hailed by Downing Street as a “centrepiece of Britain’s post-Brexit economic strategy”, Goyal has stated that 11 of the proposed pact’s 26 chapters were already “dusted and ready”, and will look to be finalised in the coming months. Gaurav Singh, founder of the largest bilateral bank across the two nations, JPIN, states that the completion of a trade agreement could pump billions more into the UK’s economy, generate further employment opportunities, attract skilled talent to fill the dire shortage, improve digitalisation and tech expansion, and ultimately bring the nation back to its pre-pandemic glory days as one of the world’s leading economies.
The UK–India investment relationship is already worth £24bn and supports more than half a million jobs across the UK. Now, both players continue to explore the possibility of an interim agreement to provide quick gains that will benefit businesses on both sides. Britain has already made strides in securing a strategic partnership with India, with a primary focus on cyber security, science and education. Recently, the largest ever delegation of UK universities met with India’s key and central government officials to scout for New Education Policy (NEP) aligned collaborations. This comes as the government looks to strengthen educational ties with India – home to 25% of the world’s software engineers – to fill the nation’s worst skills shortage on record.
Dubbed as Asia’s Silicon Valley, India’s $3 trillion GDP means that it’s on track to becoming the third largest economy in the world by 2050. The nation is already set to overtake China as the fastest-growing economy by the end of the year. Some of the largest economies have already taken notice of the country’s growing importance as a consumer market, especially as a geopolitical counterweight to China. India is currently pursuing trade deals with the EU and Canada, after cementing agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Australia. The nation continues to rapidly stretch its might across the world stage with a young and dynamic population of 1.39 billion people – 43% of skilled workers entering the UK last year were Indian nationals, further exhibiting the untapped potential in talent in India.
Gaurav Singh, founder of JPIN, comments on what the potential trade agreement means for international trade and small businesses in the UK and India:
“India is one of the world’s largest economies and presents huge potential as a key partner for trade and investment for the UK. India is a 21st century powerhouse and therefore, establishing a solid relationship with the UK in trade, technology and security could be significantly beneficial for both parties. The significance of the relationship between both nations cannot be underestimated.
“Britain has long been a global leader in terms of tech innovation, but it faces one of its toughest challenges currently in terms of a severe skills shortage. In a world where automation and AI are becoming increasingly important, companies need to have access to a large talent pool that can assist in fulfilling these roles.
“It’s great to see the end in sight for a trade deal with Britain and India, which would see lots more cross border partnerships between the two countries, creating jobs, fuelling innovation and above all positively contributing to both economies in a big way. It’s clear that closing this trade deal is a top priority for the government, and there appears to be fewer stumbling blocks as we edge closer to the finish line.
“India is goods and resource-wealth, growing exponentially, and will be the centre of the world trade in the coming decades. Therefore, building a trade and technology relationship here is particularly important to allow the UK to benefit from the immense growth India is already experiencing.
“The discussion will also look to ways that the deal could help with small businesses in both countries, especially because the levelling-up agenda is such a pressing matter for the UK government. These talks will look to future-proof the economy, and it’s fantastic to see that it’s almost come to fruition.”
