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The Print
8 hours ago
- Business
- The Print
Defence, tech, education—Modi's visit will boost India-UK ties
Indian companies have made significant investments in the UK. Grant Thornton (GT) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) research in 2024 highlighted a record number of 971 Indian companies in the UK with a combined turnover of over £68 billion. The report India Meets Britain Tracker 2024 found that Indian companies in the UK are thriving, with 100 companies having a revenue growth of at least 10 per cent. The Britain meets India Tracker 2024 identified 667 British companies in India with a turnover of approximately £47.5 billion. The UK is the sixth-largest contributor of FDI to India. Cumulative FDI from the UK to India is around $36 billion between 2000 to March 2025. India's investment in the UK during this period is close to $20 billion. Following the UK's exit from the European Union, economic and trade relations between the two countries acquired a new salience. India-UK bilateral trade set a new record when it crossed $55 billion (£42.6 billion) in 2024, registering an increase of around 10 per cent over the previous year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on his fourth visit to the UK. He will hold wide-ranging discussions with PM Keir Starmer on the entire gamut of India-UK bilateral relations, and exchange views on issues of regional and global importance. He is also expected to call on King Charles III. During the visit, the two sides will also review the progress of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) with a specific focus on trade and economy, technology and innovation, defence and security, climate, health, education, and people-to-people ties. The Indian diaspora in the UK is also a major presence in the UK's economic scenario. The 2020 GT report, done with the High Commission of India, London, and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), identified 654 diaspora-owned companies with a turnover of at least £100,000, generating a cumulative annual turnover of £36.84 billion. The wealth generated by Indian diaspora-owned businesses in the UK was estimated to be around £75 billion by this report. The 1.8 million Indian diaspora forms about 2.7 per cent of the UK's population. During PM Modi's visit, the signing of the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is expected. The forward-looking agreement complements India's growth aspirations. The FTA has been described as both historic and ambitious. It is expected to boost jobs, exports, and growth, benefitting 99 per cent of Indian exports from zero per cent duty, opening export opportunities for labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, marine products, leather footwear, sports goods and toys, gems and jewellery, and others such as engineering goods and organic chemicals. Trade in services is also expected to receive a significant fillip. Enhanced global mobility for aspirational young Indians and a three-year exemption from social security payments come as a major relief for Indian employees and companies based in the UK. Despite the record bilateral trade, the UK's trade with India accounts for around 2.5 per cent of its total trade. With both sides seeking trade diversification and supply-chain resilience, an India-UK FTA will hopefully create the doorway for businesses to drive the economic relationship forward. Also read: Strategic partner one day, tactical nightmare the next: India's learning Trumplomacy the hard way Partnership in defence sector Given the immediate challenges on India's borders, cooperation in the defence sector with partners such as the UK has achieved greater importance. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to the UK in January 2024 provided fresh impetus to the defence pillar of the relationship. In 2023, ties were elevated to a 2+2 mechanism. The British defence sector could emerge as a key collaborator in technology transfers, the development of advanced capabilities, and supporting the Make in India effort by attracting more British FDI into the defence sector. Several defence cooperation agreements—covering production of Man Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) and Lightweight Multirole Missiles (LMM), the establishment of an Advanced Short-Range Air to Air Missile (ASRAAM) assembly and test facility in India and a Statement of Intent to design and develop an Integrated Full Electric Propulsion system for Indian Navy ships—signal good times ahead for India's defence sector. India's focus on indigenous development does present challenges for the British industry, with fears that it could potentially make cooperation in certain sectors commercially unviable. Intellectual-property (IP) issues also need to be resolved. These issues can hopefully be addressed through the robust defence engagement mechanism that now exists between the two countries. Moreover, the UK–India military cooperation has grown in recent times. The Royal Navy made six ship visits to India in 2023, while its Littoral Response Group (South) conducted exercises with the Indian Navy in March 2024. In August 2024, the UK's Royal Air Force participated in exercise Tarang Shakti in India. An Indian naval officer, Lieutenant Commander N Dinesh Anand, has joined Britannia Royal Naval College as Divisional Training Officer for the first time. Tech ties India and the UK are making a serious effort to build technology partnerships. The new bilateral Technology Security Initiative (TSI), formally launched during UK Foreign Secretary, David Lammy's visit, aims to catalyse collaboration on critical and emerging technologies in seven key sectors: telecoms, critical minerals, semiconductors, Artificial Intelligence, quantum, biotechnology and health technology, and advanced materials. Tech collaboration between India and the UK also extends to sectors including financial services, innovation in health, climate, renewables, and startups. The participation of stakeholders from government, industry, and academia would be important for taking the Technology Security Initiative forward. Both countries are global hubs of innovation, science, technology, and research. India is one of the world's largest startup ecosystems and has over 100 unicorn companies. The increasing focus on these areas is welcome. Education is an important pillar of India-UK relations. The University of Southampton opened its campus in Gurugram on 16 July 2025, becoming the first foreign university campus under the New Education Policy (NEP). The UK remains one of the preferred destinations for Indian students, with around 1,70,000 students studying in the UK in the academic year 2023-2024. PM Modi's visit will hopefully set the stage for more robust and deeper bilateral relations between the two countries. The author was India's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2018-20. She tweets @RuchiGhanashyam. Views are personal. (Edited by Ratan Priya)
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
Pre-feasibility study of Vadhavan airport starts, expected to be completed within 9 months
Advt By , ETInfra NEW DELHI: Pre-feasibility study for a greenfield airport in Vadhavan Port area has been initiated and a report on the same is expected to be completed in six to nine months, officials aware of the development told ET this month, a joint venture of Grant Thornton and Nippon Nippon Koei India emerged as the successful bidders to prepare the pre-feasibility report for Maharashtra Airport Development Company Ltd, an undertaking of Government of Maharashtra 'The site visit has already been undertaken and the work has started and the pre-feasibility report is expected to be completed in six to nine months,' an official Minister Narendra Modi had earlier announced that the government will undertake development of a new airport near the ambitious Vadhavan Port project currently being undertaken along the coastline of Palghar district in western government plans to integrate the proposed airport with all-weather greenfield deep draft Vadhavan Port, in an effort to create a major logistics and trade hub, which will also include connectivity to one of India's largest warehousing zones located in Maharashtra's Port area will be connected with dedicated rail and road infrastructure and the planned airport will add another mode of transportation enabling a holistic multimodal development of the to the government, the Vadhavan Port, a deep-draft port located on the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), is projected to enhance India's container handling capacity by 23.2 million TEUs and will be instrumental in elevating India's position amongst global maritime hubs
Politico
2 days ago
- Business
- Politico
Republican tax law leaves experts searching for words
At the same time, it remains to be seen whether Republicans' decision to dub their new savings accounts for children 'Trump accounts' will prove a marketing misstep that will blunt its appeal to the 75 million Americans who voted for Kamala Harris. The overall legislation was christened by Trump, but the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' was scrubbed from the legislation once it got to the Senate, after Democratic leader Chuck Schumer had it struck as a violation of the chamber's internal rules — the latest shot in a long-running feud in which the two parties take turns deleting the names of each other's reconciliation bills. 'I just forced Republicans to delete their ridiculous bill name,' Schumer wrote shortly thereafter on X. 'Nothing about this bill is beautiful.' Technically the legislation is now called 'An act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14.' Of course, that isn't stopping many from still using the now-unofficial name. 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' was the winner in a recent EY survey of 10,000 tax pros asking how they referred to the tax law. 'OB3" came in a close second. A similar survey by Grant Thornton also had those names going one-two. Over at the Tax Policy Center, senior fellow Howard Gleckman prefers the colloquial '2025 budget act' or, simply, 'the big budget bill.' The studiously nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, meanwhile, uses the extremely neutral 'H.R. 1.' Some of the individual provisions have been renamed to reflect substantive changes made by the legislation. 'GILTI' was made obsolete by Senate Republicans' revisions to how multinationals will be taxed. The original tax was intended to target profits from things like patents that businesses squirreled away in tax havens. Republicans had trouble coming up with a way of legally defining those earnings, so in the 2017 law they essentially said GILTI was everything except profits resulting from tangible assets like factories. The idea was to distinguish between the money companies made from their actual operations abroad from things that were just accounting maneuvers. Naturally, the tangible stuff got its own acronym — QBAI, or Qualified Business Asset Investment. But the new law dumps QBAI, and so the distinction made by GILTI no longer matters, leaving the tax world with 'Net CFC Tested Income.' Something similar is happening with FDII, or Foreign Derived Intangible Income, another provision that originated in 2017. It's a deduction for companies with overseas profits from intellectual property held in the U.S. — although it's probably best known for inspiring a years-long dispute about whether it should be called 'Fiddy' or 'F-D-I-I.' QBAI was part of the calculations that went into FDII, so, with QBAI now going away, FDII is also renamed in the new law, as the Foreign Derived Deduction Eligible Income, or FDDEI. But if anything, it's even less clear how to shorthand that. Warren Payne, a former Republican tax aide now at the firm Mayer Brown, says he's heard it called 'Fa-Day' — though he's not going there. 'I haven't figured out how to pronounce it,' he said. 'I just spell it out.'
The Journal
3 days ago
- Health
- The Journal
Drugs strategy review finds staff shortages and service disruption
CONCERNS HAVE BEEN raised around access to drug treatment services and prevention efforts, according to an independent evaluation of the Government's drug strategy. Rural areas, young people and marginalised groups are reported as being 'disproportionately affected' by service discrepancies. Meanwhile, the review found that annual funding arrangements and restrictive hiring policies have contributed to staff shortages and disruptions in service delivery. The National Drug Strategy (NDS) is set out as a national framework for addressing substance use through a 'whole-of-government, person-centred, and health-led' approach that primarily frames substance use as a public health issue. An independent review of the strategy, published today, found that several stakeholders also believe prevention efforts are underdeveloped, inconsistent and lacking national ownership. The report compiled by Grant Thornton notes some progress and achievements but makes 10 recommendations for the future direction of the strategy. The authors consulted with the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Health Research Board (HRB), members of the National Oversight Committee (NOC) and Strategic Implementation Groups (SIG) for the NDS, as well as service users and family members with lived experience of drug use. Based on those engagements, it found that equity of access continues to be a concern, particularly for marginalised groups. Prevention and early intervention efforts were found to be fragmented and inconsistently delivered, while recovery and service user involvement requires further formalisation and resourcing. Additionally, the limited integration of alcohol policy and the 'gradual implementation of legal reforms', such as alternative sanctions, were identified as areas requiring strategic refinement. Meanwhile, governance structures were found to lack clearly defined roles, mandates, and accountability mechanisms. Stakeholders highlighted the need for strong national leadership, enhanced co-ordination across departments, and more inclusive decision-making processes that incorporate lived experience of service users. Advertisement There were also calls for enhanced data integration and the establishment of a national research and evaluation centre. The report also details claims of inconsistent reporting from all treatment providers which is further constraining the ability to assess the strategy's effectiveness. Stakeholders reported that high attrition rates have been observed in different regions due to factors including limited funding. There were repeated calls by some stakeholders for multi-annual funding commitments and targeted workforce investment to support more consistent and sustainable service provision. Prevention efforts were widely viewed as 'under-resourced and lacking strategic focus'. There was an emphasis on the need for early, community-based interventions that address root causes, such as trauma, poverty, and social disadvantage. Evidence shows that early life experiences significantly influence later substance use. The SPHE programme in schools was repeatedly cited for its inconsistent delivery. Many stakeholders also felt that the NDS lacked clarity and strategic direction regarding alcohol addiction. The Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said it is 'essential' to assess how the more than 300 million euro in annual public expenditure on drugs delivers impact. She said: 'The establishment of new HSE health regions presents a valuable opportunity to tailor drug treatment services to population needs and to ensure that both existing and new funding is allocated effectively and transparently.' Meanwhile, Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy, Jennifer Murnane O'Connor, said: 'We have made significant progress in implementing the national drugs strategy, and I'm pleased that the independent evaluation documents the many achievements over the last eight years.' She added: 'The recommendations from the independent evaluation will inform the development of the successor National Drugs Strategy. We need to move forward with new policies and better services to address the ever-changing drugs situation.'
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Irish Times
Cocaine users are now older, better educated and more likely to be working
People accessing treatment for drug use are older, have a higher level of education and are more likely to be in employment than they were seven years ago, according to a new report published by the Department of Health . On Monday, the department will publish an independent evaluation of the National Drugs Strategy, which sought to treat drug use and addiction with a health-led approach. According to the report, which was conducted by Grant Thornton, there is a changing demographic of drug users in Ireland. The median age of those in treatment increased from 30 in 2017 to 34 years in 2024, the report said, while the proportion of all cases in paid employment increased from 14.3 per cent in 2017 to 21.8 per cent in 2024. READ MORE The proportion of cases who ceased education for the first time before the age of 16 decreased from 34.9 per cent in 2017 to 30.3 per cent in 2024. In 2024, 13,295 cases were treated, the highest annual figure to date, representing a 48 per cent increase since 2017. Cocaine surpassed opioids as the main problem drug reported by people seeking treatment, according to the review. In terms of overall drug prevalence, the proportion of adults who used drugs within the last year has remained stable at 7.3 per cent. The most commonly used drugs in the previous 12 months in order of prevalence were: cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy, magic mushrooms and ketamine. Males and young people aged 15-24 years were most likely to use drugs over the past year. Higher rates of drug use were associated with being unemployed, having completed secondary level education only, being single and being Irish. The review of the Government's strategy was largely positive, highlighting how its implementation has improved data collection, expanded harm-reduction initiatives and allowed for Ireland to contribute to international research and co-operation. However, the report also highlights a number of challenges within the sector. There are disparities in access to harm-reduction services, particularly in rural areas and among marginalised groups, the report said. [ Ireland is becoming a country of moderate drinkers and voracious cocaine users Opens in new window ] Additionally, declining pharmacy engagement threatens the sustainability of needle exchange services, it added. The review team made 10 recommendations to overcome these challenges and guide 'the next phase of strategic development'. Minister of State Jennifer Murnane O'Connor, with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy, said Ireland has 'made significant progress' in this area. 'I welcome the strong endorsement in the evaluation of the health-led response to drug use, including the proposed health diversion scheme for people found in possession of drugs for personal use,' she said. Ms Murnane O'Connor said there is a need to 'move forward with new policies and better services to address the ever-changing drugs situation'. As such, she has established a steering group to prepare a new national drugs strategy, with a deadline of the end of this year. [ Six months ago, he started taking cocaine in a more dedicated way. Things spiralled rapidly Opens in new window ]
