According to a latest report by the Confederation of Business Industry (CBI) and EY Sterling Access' that studies the trade between the UK and India, British firms invested around £140Mn in India during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The report states that overall, trade between the UK and India hit GBP 24 billion till March 2020, up by nearly 12 per cent in just one year.
India invested in 120 projects and created 5,429 new jobs, making India the second-largest foreign investor in the UK, just after the US.
Lord Karan Bilimoria told Financial Express that the Indian government has stepped up its game to improvise the fiscal environment during the pandemic, especially with the massive surge in non-digital payments and by implementing labour reforms.
Speaking on behalf of 190, 000 British businesses, Lord Bilimoria said, “Building back from the economic shock of COVID-19, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi has made clear his ambition for India to play a bigger role in the global supply chain. In order to accomplish this further progress will need to be made, adoption of global standards, reducing technical barriers and upping the momentum on a UK-India free trade deal will be critical.”
UK-India relations have further solidified due to their synergy in the field of life sciences and IT services. As a part of the national challenge to accentuate the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’, the CBI report in association with Ernst & Young (EY) proposed actions to overcome trade barriers. They include the new Joint Economic Trade Committee services working group, enabling growth of the insurance market by raising the FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) limit from 49% to 74% and implementation of labour reforms as well as developing Special Economic Zones (SEZ) to support the manufacturing sector.
