- Airbus and Rolls Royce secured deals worth nearly 5 billion GBP for the Indian aviation sector
- Carbon Clean, a carbon capture services company, will invest 7.6 million GBP in a Mumbai office
- Med tech firm Occuity signed a 74.3 million GBP export deal with India’s Remidio Innovative Solutions
European aviation giant Airbus and iconic British luxury automobile manufacturer Rolls Royce are among the 26 British firms to have secured lucrative deals after India signed a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the United Kingdom Thursday afternoon.
Airbus, headquartered in Blagnac in France, and Rolls Royce, based in Derby in the UK, will deliver aircraft and engines to Indian airlines in deals worth nearly 5 billion GBP. This will benefit both countries, securing planes and engines for India's aviation sector and jobs for the UK.
The list of British companies that will now invest in India includes Carbon Clean, a carbon capture service provider - i.e., it contains carbon dioxide emissions from industrial sources - founded in India in 2009 and now headquartered in London. The company will invest 7.6 million GBP in a Mumbai office.
UK-based medical technology firm Occuity, which creates handheld, non-contact optical devices for eye measurements, signed a 74.3 million GBP export deal with India's Remidio Innovative Solutions.
And Johnson Matthey, a specialty chemicals firm that secured contracts worth more than 20 million GBP, will invest four million in India and support up to 20,000 jobs.
The Marcus Evans Group, a global business intelligence and event management agency, will open a new Mumbai office with an export/investment pipeline of 69 million GBP over five years.
Meanwhile, 18 Indian firms have confirmed investment plans in the UK, including DCube AI, a Kerala-based artificial intelligence firm that will invest 5 million GBP in Manchester and London.
IT services and consulting firm LTIMindtree will invest 1 million GBP in its London operations and create over 300 jobs, while Aurionpro, a tech firm in the banking and cybersecurity space, will invest a massive 20 million GBP to set up a UK office and generate over 150 jobs.
The "historic" India-UK trade deal was signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart, Sir Keir Starmer, in London this morning. Mr Modi is in England on a two-day visit.
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Apart from boosting the manufacturing and services sectors on both sides - and provide tens of thousands of jobs - the agreement will also benefit Indian farmers, since it opens premium markets by removing 95 per cent of agricultural and processed food items from British tariffs.
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Indian farm products like turmeric, pepper and cardamom, and processed products like mango pulp, pickles, and pulses, are expected to benefit, providing farmers with bigger profit margins.
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Imports from the UK will also enjoy duty-free access to a vast Indian market.
However, there will be no concessions on dairy products, apples, oats, and edible oils from that country. This is to ensure domestic farmers are not affected.
The agreement will also benefit India's fisheries sector, particularly in coastal states like Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. Exports like shrimp and tuna, feeds, which attract duties from 4.2 per cent to 8.5 per cent, will now access the British market duty-free.
Mr Modi said the agreement will reduce "cost of doing business" and enhance "confidence of doing business" between two major economies, which will also strengthen the global economy.
Sir Starmer called the deal "historic" and said, "Both countries will see a boost in wages and living standards. It will bring down the prices of Indian clothes, shoes, foods for British citizens."
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