The Rt. Hon’ble Elizabeth Truss MP, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and Minister for Women and Equalities, United Kingdom, will pay an official visit to India on 31 March 2022.
Truss will hold bilateral consultations with External Affairs Minister, Dr S. Jaishankar on bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest. She would also participate in the inaugural edition of the India-UK Strategic Futures Forum, a track 1.5 Dialogue between the two countries hosted by the Indian Council of World Affairs and Policy Exchange, UK.
The India-UK relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the India-UK Virtual Summit held between the two Prime Ministers on 04 May 2021. This would be the second visit of the UK Foreign Secretary to India since the Virtual Summit and would provide an opportunity to assess the progress on the Roadmap 2030 launched during the Virtual Summit. The visit will also serve to further deepen our partnership across various sectors such as trade & investment, science, technology & innovation, defence & security, climate cooperation, education and digital communications.
It is important to note that the E-visa of India has been taken off the list for the UK due to a reciprocal issue under the Foreign Trade Agreement between the two countries.
Sunak faces questions over his wife shares in Infosys
Meanwhile, major consultancy firms PwC, KPMG and Accenture have all quit Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, citing a desire to protest against Kremlin's war. By contrast, Infosys is still operating in Moscow. Akshata Murthy, who married Sunak in 2009, is one of the wealthiest women in Britain, with a fortune reportedly even larger than the Queen's.
Akshata's father Narayana Murthy, founded Infosys in 1981. The entrepreneur is now worth a reported £3.4 billion. He stepped down as chairman of the company in 2014 but retains a 0.4 per cent stake in Infosys worth around £311million. In addition to his daughter, his wife and son have stakes in the group, too. Infosys remains one of India's largest tech firms, with a presence in around 50 countries.
However, it has attracted criticism for deciding to keep its Moscow office open despite the invasion of Ukraine. It is found that over the past year, Infosys made two dividend payments that would have netted Akshata around £11.7million through her 0.93 per cent holding in the company.
Quizzing the Chancellor about his wife's links to Russia earlier this week, the News presenter had asked him: “Are you giving advice to others that you are not following in your own home?” The Chancellor now faces more pressure over his wife's holdings in Infosys, given he has warned businesses to “think carefully” about making any investments that would benefit the Moscow regime.
A spokesman for the firm said: “Infosys has a small team of employees based out of Russia that services some of our global clients locally. We do not have any active business relationships with local Russian enterprises.” It is not known whether Akshata received the cash indicated from the most recent Infosys accounts, or if the dividends were reinvested or redeployed in another way.”
Last-minute cancellations
A high-powered cross-party UK delegation to India led by the Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, and his deputy was called off at the last minute in a sign of a growing rift over India’s refusal to distance itself from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The 10-strong delegation has been in discussion with India since January and was planning to visit Delhi and Rajasthan, but the Indian high commission is understood to have raised objections at the last minute.
