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Business Standard
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
FTA with UK adds strength to India's hand in other deals: Sunil Mittal
Soon after India and the United Kingdom (UK) signed the free trade agreement (FTA) on Thursday, industry leaders cheered the move. Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises and co-chair of the India-UK CEO Forum, and Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), who were in Chequers (near London) for the FTA signing as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's entourage, spoke to Nivedita Mookerji on the various aspects of the deal. Edited excerpts from a Zoom conversation: Who's the biggest winner in this FTA? Sunil Bharti Mittal (SBM): It's a win win for both sides with a balanced outcome after a very long and hard negotiation…. I think you will now see a lot of British companies getting much more confident about investing in India, working in India, setting up their bases in our country. The Prime Minister spoke today of taking the bilateral trade from $56 billion to $112 billion in five years—It's an ambitious target, but achievable, given the way this FTA has been set up. So I would say it's hard for FTAs to be agreed. Your 'asks' and their 'gives', their 'asks' and our 'gives'--there's always a resistance on both sides…. But over here, you don't see any major resistance, finally, because both have come to an agreement which is balanced. Chandrajit Banerjee (CB): There are many sectors from the Indian side which will benefit. From both manufacturing as well as services. But if you see some of the critical sectors, like textiles and apparels, that opens up a huge market. In the pharma sector also, we are getting huge opportunities. The small and the mid size companies across the engineering area as well as auto components will also gain. Plus, the labour intensive sectors like leather and footwear will benefit due to the increased access to the UK market. Will there be a ripple effect of the UK agreement on the US deal that is in the works? SBM: I think closing of this deal is important for India. It does add strength to India's hand. But the US is altogether different. It's the largest market in the world,… It's good to have this one out of the way. Now you will have one less trade deal to work on and the negotiators will be able to concentrate more on the next one. The one with the EU is expected to be done in the next few weeks or months. As for the US, some interim deal should be done. It's easy for you and I to discuss it here, but there are new developments in the US on a daily basis. CB: In some ways, the UK FTA is a signal to the world that India has been entering into large number of trade agreements with different countries, both in the eastern hemisphere and now in the western hemisphere, and the Indian industry is competitive. It also shows that India provides not just opportunities to companies to come and participate in the Indian economy in terms of investments, but our companies themselves are investing strongly in other economies…. So, this is indicative of balance of power. Mr Mittal, there's a full chapter on telecom in the deal. Any significance? SBM: Well, I'm delighted to see that chapter, as you can imagine. Both countries will be having open doors for telecom in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI). As you know, Vodafone had 100 per cent in India…. What the FTA will do is to take the agreed position to a hard wired position. Do you think this deal will help in the making of global brands? Hasn't that been a gap for the Indian industry? SBM: I would say yes…. You have to have large corporations first, and then you go global. That's been the norm world over. And the western world has had that privilege for decades, because they became rich much before us. I think India is on that path now, and you will start to see Indian MNCs emerging on the global stage. Tatas have already been there with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and others. I think we can count ourselves (Airtel) as that. There are a few other companies which are on that path to some extent--Godrej, Mahindras, for example. For your group, what does this deal mean? SBM: It validates what we've been doing for so many years in sectors such as telecom, real estate and hospitality. We also have the satellite deal—OneWeb--with the British government. So this just strengthens our hand to do more between the two countries. Perhaps, we can pick up some technologies here that we can take back to India and use the technology back home in the Indian market, which is much bigger. We remain agile. We are looking at opportunities. But today, I stand in front of you as the co-chair of the Indian business leaders' delegation, the CEO forum, and my job is to work on the larger piece. In this capacity, I have to see that Indian industry and the British business leadership can combine their minds to take our trade to the level that has been set by the two partners. What are your thoughts on utilisation of trade deals? In many cases, we've seen that we are not able to utilise the deals that are signed. How can the industry help? SBM: This is a rare opportunity where both sides can gain from combining strengths of each other. There's high degree of complementarity between the two nations. And that really makes a very strong, powerful platform, or a bridge, if I may say, between the two countries. You're right that not all trade deals result in tremendous amount of uptick in trade and services or investment. I think this is different. In this case, I feel in the first year itself, as soon as this treaty is ratified, we will see the direction of trade going up in the upwards trajectory. CB: This trade agreement is designed to work for both countries, be it for bilateral investment or bilateral trade. Whether it's small or mid-sized companies, technology, education or anything else, we (India-UK business forum) can form different groups and see to it that we are able to identify the enablers. So there should be possibilities of constructive ways of working towards taking advantage of this trade agreement. Is there anything in this FTA that you think could have been done better? Any gaps? SBM: Well, there's always something that one feels could have been better. Some parts of the industry may feel that certain things could have been better handled. But by and large, I don't think there is any reason to complain. There may be somebody unhappy out there, but, you know, in a trade deal of this nature, it is rare to get to a win win situation like the one we are seeing in this one. What is the overall mood of the industry? SBM: Very good. Industry is very upbeat. CB: I think what we have seen is an amazing partnership between the government and the industry. I think that collaborative framework is going to be a key factor as we move ahead, when industry is taken along and consulted. That collaboration should work to see that FTAs are working in a win win way.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
UK deal will set roadmap for talks with EU, but US a different ballgame: Sunil Bharti Mittal
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal , who co-chairs the India-UK CEO Forum and is leading a 16-member industry delegation accompanying Prime minister Narendra Modi to London for signing the trade detail, tells Romit Guha and Deepshikha Sikarwar that it is time for Indian industry to step up its game in the UK. Edited excerpts:This is the first real pact signed between two large nations where the economies are of a similar size, $3.5 trillion. It is a Western world economy and has a number of technologies which are very useful right out. The Indian market is very important for UK companies and equally, India needs to step up its game in the so far the trade between the two countries was $56 billion, which makes it a fairly large trading partner, the ambition of both our Prime Ministers is to more than double this in less than five years. So, taking it to $120 billion dollars by 2030 is an ambitious have gained a three-year exemption on social security payments. I believe the estimates are about Rs 4,000 crore of savings for the Indian a win-win for both sides. I hope the investments will step up in India we don't have blockages like in the 70s and 80s when imports were restricted. Everything is open for imports. The question is really on tariffs. Tariffs between India and the UK were not that high. The UK is a sizable market with (a population of) 65 million. India is a continent of 1.5 billion people. This is the kind of market that any Western world would be happy to access on favourable terms. And this is what the UK gets. But in turn, what do they need to do? Set up more factories, more manufacturing in India, step up investments, maybe do some acquisitions, because in the UK, manufacturing is not as competitive as it is in India. Equally, there is a pool of talent available in India, in Indian companies, they can now come and acquire companies in the UK. There are a lot of gems sitting out here. They have been weak in their valuations because of low local demand. And now bridge it with India. And you're seeing TVS Motor coming and buying; we have come and made some investments here. Tata's Jaguar Land Rover is sending cars to India now. It will now become better for them to send at a lower duty. I would say this is a really well-crafted trade I would say the high-tech area, especially defence — hypersonic missiles, UAVs, drones, these technologies that are in the UK at a very advanced level. The UK is a very advanced Western defence manufacturing nation, whether it's fighter jets or UAVs. It has a lot of technology sitting here, which India will have access to now. We can expect deeper cooperation, different partnerships, including hopefully in the area of is SME, which is at the other end of the spectrum. We had leather, leather footwear, handicrafts and small hand tools, machine tools, and small automobile parts which are required in the UK. All these in India will now get access into the UK market on a preferential basis at very low or almost nil duties. We have also successfully protected certain sensitive sectors, for example has done quite a few FTAs — with the European Free Trade Association, Australia, the United Arab Emirates. The trade deal with the UK to my mind is the first big western one, and this will set the roadmap for talks with the European Union. I hope that in the coming weeks and months, the EU will start to take US is altogether a different ballgame. The Indian government is keenly negotiating various issues that are coming up there. It is not an easy task to have a free trade agreement or a comprehensive trade agreement with a large market like the US, which can not only take a lot of things from you, but also send a lot of things back into your country. So, one will have to take a balanced approach, a more nuanced approach. But I think there seems to be an urgency. But I think all these agreements, like the UK, will add to India's are in a new world. Even in the first term of Donald Trump, we could see multilateralism getting weakened. And, in the second term, much more of that. I don't know how much relevance the WTO will have. But it seems more and more, bilateralism is going to become fashionable.I have had the privilege of working on some back channels for this deal as well. Our investments in the UK help us have a voice on the table. We have big investments in the hospitality, real estate sectors, British Telecom, which is an iconic British company and, of course, OneWeb. We remain pretty agile in the UK market and we look for opportunities in growing our investments in key we are inside BT now. We are the single largest shareholder with 25%. My relationship with the chairman and CEO and some of the board members is outstanding. We work with them, we have given them a number of suggestions, which they like. They had visited India with a big delegation to see how we operate.I think there are lots of things that BT can pick up from Airtel in India. But, equally, we are also seeing some of the stuff that they are doing. For example, in open ridge, the way they do the trenching, the connections they have at homes. So, this is going to be a nice cooperation between the two companies where the bridge is Bharti Enterprises, which has a controlling stake in Airtel in India and an influential stake in BT.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
India-UK FTA a historic milestone; win-win deal brings high sense of complementarity: Sunil Mittal
The India-UK FTA represents a historic milestone for both nations, Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said on Thursday, noting that the agreement reflects a strong complementarity between the two sides. Mittal, who is also the Co-Chair of the India-UK CEO Forum , said the deal lays down a clear roadmap and exuded confidence that the target set out of doubling bilateral trade is "absolutely achievable". Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Design Thinking MBA CXO Finance Healthcare Degree Management Others MCA Data Science Leadership Public Policy Data Analytics Technology PGDM healthcare Operations Management Digital Marketing Product Management Project Management Artificial Intelligence Cybersecurity Data Science Skills you'll gain: Duration: 25 Weeks IIM Kozhikode CERT-IIMK PCP DTIM Async India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 22 Weeks IIM Indore CERT-IIMI DTAI Async India Starts on undefined Get Details "This is a historic moment for both countries, it is rare to see two large economies coming together on a common platform, finding common ground and coming out with a win-win deal like the one which has been signed today...I personally believe that the ambition of doubling trade, both in goods and services, is absolutely achievable. And this is where the role of Indian and British industry will come into play," he told PTI. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Harry Potter' Star Who Grew Up Stunningly The Noodle Box Undo The ground is laid and the roadmap is clear, Mittal said, adding that India-UK FTA brings to fore a "high sense of complementarity". The telecom industry stalwart said the trade deal also offers big opportunities for small and medium enterprises in areas like footwear and leather products, while a three-year exemption on social security contribution would offer a big boost to Indian technology companies . Live Events "We talk about two the hi-tech area, which is, let's talk about small nuclear reactors, so in the clean energy area, hypersonic missiles, drones, UAVs, other defence equipment, which is available in the UK, including the technologies and manufacturing units in very strong measure...I think this is one area of cooperation and collaboration. "Plus India is opening up its public procurement to British companies, which is generally not the norm, and that will incentivise the British industries to come and set up a lot of their manufacturing activities in the country, in India," said Mittal, who led the delegation on behalf of CII. India and the UK on Thursday inked a landmark free trade agreement (FTA) that will cut tariffs on British whisky, cars and an array of items, besides boosting bilateral trade. The deal was signed by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and his British counterpart Jonathan Reynolds in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Keir Starmer . The FTA is expected to benefit 99 per cent of Indian exports from tariffs and will make it easier for British firms to export whisky, cars and other products to India, besides boosting the overall trade basket. Further, Indian companies operating in the UK would not have to make social security contributions for up to three years for employees they move from India to support their operations. This is estimated to benefit over 75,000 Indian workers and over 900 employers as it exempts Indian professionals and their employers from these contributions in the UK for a stay of up to 36 months. "I think this is a good balanced outcome, because if Indian professionals can come and work here for three years and then don't have to give the contribution here in the UK, but carry on doing it in secures them, because when they go back home, at least their pie is safe. "They can get benefits, their pensions, their insurance, all those things have not gone to waste. So, think, this is a huge advantage to IT/ITES companies which are working here in the just technology companies, but even other firms," he said. On whether he sees India-UK FTA becoming a template for other trade deals currently being negotiated, including with the EU, Mittal replied in the affirmative. "I think should now focus everybody's mind on the EU. This is out of the way now. The EU should have a similar playbook now. There are a lot of similarities between the UK and the rest of Western Europe. I don't see any major differences between the negotiating tactics there," he said. On whether he believes the UK trade deal could help drive reasonable tariff negotiations with the US, too, Mittal said that while the agreement does add strength, drawing comparisons may not be prudent. "I think this does put one more in the bag, and then go on and negotiate. This definitely adds strength to India's negotiating power. But let's not is a market set apart from the rest of the world. It is the largest market in the will have to be industry will have to be America, at the moment, the way it's going is less predictable than many other countries in the negotiations. So, we'll just have to wait and watch how things progress there," he said.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
India-UK trade pact boost: Industry bodies hails FTA as 'transformational milestone', gems and jewellery sectors eye big gains
Indian industry leaders on Thursday welcomed the signing of the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) as a 'transformational milestone' for bilateral economic relations, praising its potential to expand exports, boost investment, and catalyse joint ventures across multiple growth sectors. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises and Co-Chair of the India-UK CEO Forum, said the agreement would stimulate innovation, ease market access, and foster investment. 'Indian industry across all sectors welcomes the India-UK FTA with great optimism,' he said, quoted PTI. 'This agreement establishes a modern, forward-looking partnership.' The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) echoed the sentiment, noting that the agreement will deepen bilateral cooperation in clean energy, digital technologies, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing. 'This FTA marks a defining moment in our bilateral relationship, reflecting a shared commitment to inclusive growth, economic resilience, and industrial transformation,' said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General of CII. 'It creates a strong foundation for deeper market access, regulatory cooperation, and next-generation partnerships.' The trade pact, once ratified by the British Parliament, is expected to reduce barriers in labour-intensive sectors like textiles, leather, gems and jewellery, and marine products. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Llandudno: If You Were Born Between 1940-1975 You Could Be Eligible For This Life Cover Reassured Undo It also includes a reciprocal social security agreement that will allow Indian professionals to continue contributions to Indian schemes while working in the UK for up to three years. Gems and jewellery exporters see significant upside. Kirit Bhansali, Chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), called the deal a 'landmark accord' that could nearly triple exports to the UK. 'Currently, exports to the UK stand at $941 million; with the duty concessions in place, this figure is poised to surge to $2.5 billion within the next three years,' he said. British companies also welcomed the deal, particularly those in the aerospace and spirits industries. Rolls-Royce CEO Tufan Erginbilgic said the FTA will help deepen co-development in power and propulsion technologies with Indian partners. Nik Jhangiani, Interim CEO of Diageo, applauded the phased reduction in Scotch whisky tariffs from 150% to 75%, and eventually to 40%. 'This agreement marks a great moment for both Scotch and Scotland, and we'll be raising a glass of Johnnie Walker to all those who have worked so hard to get it secured,' he said. Chivas Brothers Chairman and CEO Jean-Etienne Gourgues said the agreement would be a 'game changer' for Scotch whisky exports to India. 'The deal will support long-term investment and jobs in our distilleries in Speyside and our bottling plant at Kilmalid,' he added. The deal is expected to accelerate bilateral trade and investment, with business groups urging both governments to expedite ratification and implementation. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
