India, UK set to bolster ties across the spectrum amid PM Starmer’s visit

New Delhi, Oct 7 Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Keir Starmer's meeting in Mumbai this week, both the countries which have robust economic and trade relationship aim to double down on their bilateral collaboration across the spectrum with the recently-concluded Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Both countries share good ties in the green energy sector, that led to cheaper and cleaner power, and it helps in cutting pollution and creating a lot of local jobs as well.

India and the UK have collaborated on offshore wind, green hydrogen, and grid integration, supporting turbine yards, electrolyser assembly, and transmission upgrades.

Similarly, collaboration in joint pilots on storage, smart meters and industrial decarbonisation lowers bills over time and reduces outages and urban air pollution.

A new UK-India 'FemTech' track accelerates co-development and scale-up of women-focused diagnostics and devices. It speeds products to clinics and creates start-up and clinical trial jobs.

At the same time, both countries have fruitful collaboration in homegrown cures and devices segment. Joint programmes have seeded patents, spun out indigenous medical devices, and funded hundreds of fellowships. This keeps talent in India and translates lab breakthroughs to patients.

UK science and India's manufacturing capacity proved the model in the pandemic period as well. Affordable vaccines at mass scale, stronger supply chains, and high-skilled pharma jobs are the testimony.

Together, Indian and British companies employ more than 650,000 people in each other’s countries.

The India-UK trade pact provides duty-free access to approximately 99 per cent of Indian exports by value. This supports MSMEs and jobs in textiles, marine products, leather, footwear, sports goods, toys, gems and jewellery. It also opens opportunities in engineering goods, auto parts and organic chemicals.

PM Modi and UK Prime Minister Starmer will meet in Mumbai this week to hold discussions on further strengthening bilateral trade and investment, technology and innovation, defence and security, climate and energy, health, education and people-to-people relations, apart from issues of regional global importance.

The UK Prime Minister, who is scheduled to arrive in India on October 8, and PM Modi will attend the sixth edition of the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai on October 9 and deliver keynote addresses at the event.

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