“Whether it’s improved access to India’s growing consumer market, opportunities in manufacturing, infrastructure and innovation, or collaboration in financial and professional services, the relaunch of trade talks can unlock even greater trade, investment and prosperity across the UK-India corridor,” he said.
Among the British businesses exporting to India are Radio Design, which has its headquarters in Shipley, West Yorkshire, and has opened a manufacturing facility in India, and the tech company marcusevans group, which has established its global tech operations in Mumbai.
Reynolds said tech and life sciences were “two huge growth sectors for the UK” and that their exports into the Indian market “will amount to tens of millions of pounds for the UK economy”.
The Guardian revealed in the spring that India has also asked for an exemption from the UK’s planned carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) – a planned tax on the import of carbon-intensive goods such as steel, glass and fertiliser – on the basis that it is a developing country.
Ministers are relaunching negotiations with India this week in an attempt to clinch a multibillion-pound free trade agreement that they hope will boost the UK’s flatlining economy.
