Analysis of the new UK-India trade deal, hailed as a post-Brexit success, boosting bilateral trade & impacting various sectors. Concerns over immigration also raised.<\/p>\n
London, Jul 25 (PTI) The British media on Friday lauded the India-UK Free Trade Agreement, saying it opens the door to a market that could be second only to China’s by 2050.<\/p>\n
The India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) or the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) seeks to enhance bilateral trade by around USD 34 billion annually, besides ensuring better market access.<\/p>\n
The pact was inked by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and his UK counterpart Jonathan Reynolds in the presence of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Keir Starmer, whose government pegged it as a landmark deal, which secured thousands of British jobs and export wins.<\/p>\n
Many British media outlets have chosen to frame it as a key post-Brexit win, made possible only because the UK is no longer a member of the European Union (EU) \u0096 an economic bloc that has had many stops and starts with negotiating an FTA with India over decades.<\/p>\n
All major UK publications had images of the beaming prime ministers and their trade ministers emblazoned alongside largely exuberant headlines resonating the central theme around the mood music of warm hugs and cups of tea shared between Modi and Starmer at Chequers, the countryside residence of the British PM.<\/p>\n
\u0093Britain’s bumper trade deal with India will have Remainers choking on their cornflakes this morning. Not only was it made possible by leaving the EU, it shows that Brexit is well and truly working,\u0094 notes a \u0091Daily Express’ article entitled \u0091One reason why multi-billion-pound Brexit trade deal with India is good for Britain’.<\/p>\n
\u0091The Times’ analysis concludes that Britain’s trade deal with India is \u0093worth the effort\u0094 because it \u0093opens the door to a market that could be second only to China’s by 2050.\u0094<\/p>\n
Harking back to Anglo-Indian trade of pre-independence times, when Mahatma Gandhi took to spinning Khadi to boycott foreign-made cloth, the newspaper highlights how the tables turned as India overtook Britain to become the world’s fifth-largest economy in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u0093On average, Indian tariffs on British goods will be reduced from 15 per cent to 3 per cent. Ministers forecast the deal will boost GDP by GBP 5 billion by 2040. That may be small beer given UK national output of GBP 2.56 trillion, but it does not take account the deepening ties illustrated by the agreement and the potential for ever greater trade liberalisation,\u0094 it notes.<\/p>\n
\n \u0091The Financial Times’, meanwhile, largely optimistic in its coverage of PM Modi’s visit to the UK, which revolved almost entirely around the FTA or CETA as it is christened, did flag the automotive sector’s muted reaction to the tariff cuts agreed.<\/p>\n
\u0093British carmakers have been left underwhelmed by the UK-India trade deal signed on Thursday, with industry figures saying \u0091very difficult’ last-minute talks between London and New Delhi had resulted in a watered-down accord,\u0094 the newspaper states.<\/p>\n
The concern is around UK petrol and diesel car tariffs not falling to a headline 10 per cent rate until 2031 and a tight cap on the number of cars they can sell in the Indian market tapering \u0093markedly\u0094 between 2031 and 2046.<\/p>\n
\u0093Carmakers were still relatively optimistic about the deal, given that tariff rates are set to come down,\u0094 it adds.<\/p>\n
The one aspect of the deal that has some sections of the media striking a note of concern is the Double Contributions Convention (DCC), which will be enforced along with the FTA.<\/p>\n
\u0093The deal means Indian workers employed by an India-based employer will be able to work in the UK for up to three years without paying National Insurance. They will continue to pay into Indian social security during that period, with reciprocal rules in place for UK workers who go to India,\u0094 notes \u0091The Daily Telegraph’.<\/p>\n
\u0093The deal comes a matter of months after Labour imposed higher National Insurance on British companies and follows calls from within Labour for the party to toughen its immigration stance amid the rise of Reform UK,\u0094 it states.<\/p>\n
The newspaper goes on to quote Prime Minister Modi’s statement on how the DCC will \u0093inject new energy into the service sectors of both countries\u0094 and the UK economy will \u0093benefit from India’s skilled talent\u0094, implying an unwelcome impact on migration statistics.<\/p>\n
\u0093There is, of course, a dark lining to every silver cloud, and in the case of the Anglo-Indian deal, it is the fear that an arrangement exempting Indians working temporarily in this country from paying national insurance could result in British workers being undercut\u0085 One to watch,\u0094 concludes \u0091The Times’ analysis.<\/p>\n
The FTA targets a doubling of bilateral trade to USD 120 billion by 2030. Following Indian Cabinet approval and the formal signing, the deal progresses to its UK Parliament ratification process, which is expected to take up to a year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Analysis of the new UK-India trade deal, hailed as a post-Brexit success, boosting bilateral trade & impacting various…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[6851,802,748,16579,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,20238,5608,16,5323,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-290505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-bilateral-trade","9":"tag-brexit","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-economic-impact","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-european","15":"tag-european-union","16":"tag-great-britain","17":"tag-india-uk-fta","18":"tag-post-brexit","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-uk-india-trade-deal","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114913743035239045","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}