It’s not just cricket – finance and friendship underpin Britain’s bond with India
The deep love of cricket that the UK and India share was clearly on show last week. But our relationship goes much further than just a passion for sport.
It is a family affair, with parents and children, brothers and sisters living, working and moving between our two great nations.
It is no surprise then that such a strong and committed bond brings substantial mutual prosperity, and the economic side of our relationship is worth £20bn a year and growing all the time.
As the UK looks to the future, we now want to tighten relations with our closest international allies, to create wealth and jobs on both sides.
India boasts the world’s fastest-growing trillion-dollar economy and the sixth largest overall. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just been re-elected and has stated his intention to make India a $5 trillion economy by the end of his term.
It means India will be a great power in the twenty-first century, whose influence is likely to increase hugely and which will become a world leader in key markets including financial services, global currency trading, and fintech – markets in which the UK is also a pioneer.
Last year, our respective Prime Ministers announced new collaboration on financial services marrying British financial and regulatory expertise with Indian leadership in technology – leading to an agreement for fintech regulation, joint work on pensions systems and regulation, and the training of insolvency professionals in India.
The UK’s foreign direct investment stock in India also grew by 9.4 per cent in 2017 alone, and is currently worth £14.4bn, illustrating the strong foundations we are building upon, and the opportunities to invest more in each other’s economies as we grow together.
This week, I’m talking to ministers in the Indian government about further opportunities, including getting the UK stronger access to the Indian financial services market.
We have a lot to offer India too – the UK is firmly established in financial trading markets and already accounts for 37 per cent of global foreign exchange trading worldwide – expertise we can share with India as they take their currency global.
The UK’s position as a world-leading finance hub and the European fintech capital also makes us perfectly placed to support India’s aspirations to develop its financial infrastructure and tap into global sources of capital.
For all these reasons, the UK is committed to growing the bilateral trading relationship, and Canada is perfectly placed to help. It is already playing a crucial role in the internationalisation of the rupee, which will give India the advantage it needs on the world stage and shows just some of what the UK can do for India’s economic transformation as it moves into becoming a services-led economy.
After three years, the UK is really starting to show what a well-planned international trade policy can deliver for the UK and its partners. This work is all the more crucial with the global headwinds beginning to change.
We are at the start of a journey into an exciting future. This is why I’m backing India, its government’s plan for prosperity, and its prospects for success.
Main image credit: Getty