Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, who is on a visit to the UK, addressed a sectoral roundtable of Investors, including Fintech, Venture capital funds and Banks in London and explained to them, how with ‘Make in India for the World’, UK businesses can leverage cost competitiveness, scale and skill to become global champions.
Earlier, he addressed the India-UK Business Roundtable on FTA in London on Friday. Following the meet, the Union Minister exuded confidence that the India-UK FTA, which is in the works, will benefit businesses and add a new dimension of dynamism to our trade and economic relations
Taking to Twitter, the Union Minister said, “At the sectoral roundtable with industry captains, discussed their companies investment plans in India. Explained to them, how with ‘Make in India for the World’, UK businesses can leverage cost competitiveness, scale & skill to become global champions.”
Furthermore, Goyal wrote, “Addressed a sectoral roundtable of Investors including Fintech, Venture capital funds & Banks in London. With India leading the way in innovation & technology, reiterated how it is becoming the most preferred destination for investment across sectors.”
Piyush Goyal, formally flagged off UK-India Week 2022, organised by UK-headquartered India Global Forum (IGF), at a special curtain raiser event in London with a positive message of a win-win Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the works for the two nations.
In conversation with IGF Founder Professor Manoj Ladwa at Taj 51 Buckingham Gate on May 26th evening, the senior Cabinet Minister shared insights on a wide range of subjects – from his recent interactions at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos with businesses around the world keen on investing in the India story to the Narendra Modi led government’s increasingly FTA-friendly and outward-looking engagement with the world.
The minister said, “There’s a big difference between the mood in India and the mood in the rest of the world. In India, there’s a lot of excitement about the future, our young India is looking at the future with great hope and aspiration. Davos, unfortunately, represented quite a bit of doom and gloom. Most of the engagements showed that participants were very disturbed, concerned, slightly pessimistic about the future of multilateralism, already talking about deglobalisation. We in India look at the future with great optimism, we believe these things will also pass as have many other challenges. India is ready to engage with the world from a position of strength.”
On the subject of FTAs, he pointed to the two fast deals clinched with the UAE and Australia, with Canada progressing well towards an Early Harvest Agreement.
The minister added, “With the UK, we had agreed to do an Early Harvest Agreement – basically, to grab the low-hanging fruits and leave the more difficult elements for the next stage and give the people of both countries the confidence that this agreement is a win-win and create an automatic demand for more. But the way things are progressing, we’ll actually land up doing a full FTA with the UK by Diwali. We are working towards a fair deal and a win-win for both countries.”
The event brought together prominent UK-based parliamentarians, business chiefs and academics to set the tone for IGF’s UK-India Week 2022 next month, themed around Reimagine@75 – as a celebration of 75 years of India’s independence and UK-India ties.
HE Gaitri Issar Kumar, the Indian High Commissioner to the UK, said, “Our teams are looking at the possibility of completing the trade agreement as fast as possible. In fact, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has invited our Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] to come to London and announce the Free Trade Agreement with him. I have no doubt that under the stewardship of Piyush Goyal and Trade Secretary Madam Anne-Marie Trevelyan, we will move with the greatest speed and efficiency towards this target.”
Minister Goyal, who is on a visit to the UK, has been holding talks with his UK counterpart – Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan – and engaging with business chiefs and stakeholders to ensure progress towards a UK-India FTA