UK and India have begun talks on a FTA

The first round of discussions is likely to begin next week, making it the UK’s shortest commencement of formal talks between negotiating teams following a launch, according to the British government.

The UK government announced the start of free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with India on Thursday, calling it a “great opportunity” to put British enterprises in front of the Indian economy’s “queue.”

Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, said an FTA would “push the country’s historic cooperation with India to the next level,” citing Scotch whisky, financial services, and cutting-edge renewable energy as examples of major sectors that would gain.

The first round of discussions is likely to begin next week, making it the UK’s shortest commencement of formal talks between negotiating teams following a launch, according to the British government.

“A trade agreement with India’s burgeoning economy would benefit British businesses, employees, and consumers enormously. The UK’s independent trade policy is creating jobs, improving wages, and pushing innovation across the country as we take our historic partnership with India to the next level,” Johnson added.

“By 2050, India will be the third-largest economy in the world, with a middle class of about 250 million shoppers.” “We want to open up this massive new market for our fantastic British producers and manufacturers in a variety of industries, from food and drink to services and automobiles,” she said.

An FTA between India and the United Kingdom is being promoted in the United Kingdom as having enormous benefits for both nations, with the potential to expand bilateral trade by up to GBP 28 billion per year by 2035 and raise salaries by up to GBP 3 billion across the UK.

A deal with India would also be a “significant step ahead” in the UK’s post-Brexit goal to refocus trade on the Indo-Pacific, which is home to half the world’s population and 50% of global economic growth.

The Department for International Trade (DIT) has stated that the UK seeks an agreement that lowers barriers to conducting business and trading with India’s GBP 2 trillion economy and 1.4 billion consumers, including tariff reductions on British-made automobiles and Scotch whisky exports.

The Indian government’s intentions to build 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 are also seen as a huge opportunity for the UK’s renewables industry, which is hoping to benefit from a pact that lowers barriers like import levies on wind turbine parts as high as 15%

The UK is touting the India FTA as a huge step forward in support of free and fair trade in the Indo-Pacific since its leave from the European Union (EU).