NEW DELHI: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday leading the UK’s largest-ever trade mission to India.
Starmer is accompanied by a 125-member delegation including business executives and representatives of universities and cultural institutions.
The trip, which follows the signing of a multibillion-dollar free trade agreement in July, is the British premier’s first official visit to India since taking office last year.
“This is the biggest trade mission that the United Kingdom has ever sent into India,” he told a business gathering upon arrival in the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai.
“That FTA is really important for us. It’s the biggest deal that we’ve struck since we left the EU.”
The deal was signed during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to London in late July and is yet to be ratified by both governments in a process that usually takes about 12 months.
“I’ve asked the team to implement it as quickly as humanly possible, so that it’s in place,” Starmer said. “I think the opportunities are already opening up, the contact has already increased, trade with India went up hugely.”
As he is scheduled to meet Modi on Thursday, it is expected that both may push for the ratification to be expedited in the face of India’s dealing with 50 percent US tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration, and the UK’s foreign and trade policies affected by Brexit — the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, which took effect in 2021.
“I think this is important for both in India and the UK, and not only in the context of operationalizing the FTA and to keep the momentum going in the relationship, but also because this is a moment where the American policies have created an incentive to deepen the economic engagement,” Harsh V. Pant, vice president at Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation, told Arab News.
“In that context, we can see an early coming into effect on the FTA and those issues that need to be resolved, perhaps will be resolved much faster than previously anticipated.”
Under the new pact, about 99 percent of Indian goods will get duty-free access to the UK market.
It will also halve import duties on UK-produced whiskey and gin from 150 percent, followed by a further decrease to 40 percent in a decade. Tariffs on automobiles will be reduced from 100 percent to 10 percent.
The FTA has been widely estimated to increase bilateral trade by 60 percent. Currently, it stands at about $54 billion, according to UK Department for Business and Trade data, with UK exports to India estimated at $21.7 billion and imports at $32.4 billion.
