MUMBAI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and British counterpart Keir Starmer hailed the potential on Thursday of their months-old trade deal to transform commercial links, as London unveiled new Indian investment in Britain and said “this is just the start”.
Starmer is in the financial capital of Mumbai on a two-day visit to India, joined by more than 100 leaders from Britain’s business, culture and university sectors, as he rushes to harvest the trade deal signed in July.
The deal agreed to cut tariffs on goods from textiles to whisky and cars, and allow more market access for businesses in the world’s fifth- and sixth-largest economies, aiming to boost trade by a further 25.5 billion pounds (USD34 billion) by 2040.
Britain says it respects India’s strategic independence and Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander, a former trade minister who joined the delegation, told reporters the issue had not prevented Starmer from leveraging close ties with Modi to expand the UK economy.
In an early indication of that strategy, Britain said it had signed a 350 million pound (USD468 million) contract to supply the Indian army with lightweight multi-role missiles built in Northern Ireland, and the next phase of a deal, worth an initial 250 million pounds, to collaborate on electric-powered engines for naval ships.
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