
Business Reporter, BBC News
The United Kingdom and India have concluded a trade agreement that will allow British companies to more easily export whiskey, cars and other products to India, and will reduce taxes on India clothing and shoes.
The British government said that the “historic” agreement, which has taken three years to reach, has not been inclined in the immigration policy, including Indian students who are studying in the United Kingdom.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the agreement would stimulate the economy and “deliver for the British and business”.
Last year, trade between the United Kingdom and India totaled 42.6 billion pounds sterling and was already growing, but the government said that the agreement would increase this trade by 25.5 billion pounds additional per year by 2040.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the agreement as a historic stage which was “ambitious and mutually beneficial”.
The pact would help “catalyze trade, investment, growth, job creation and innovation in our two economies,” he said in an article on the social media platform.
Once it has entered into force, which could take up to a year, British consumers are likely to benefit from the reduction of prices on goods from India from India, said the Ministry of Affairs and Trade.
Which includes lower prices on:
- Clothes and shoes
- cars
- food, including frozen shrimp
- Jewelry and gems
The government has also highlighted the advantages of economic growth and the creation of jobs for British companies expanding exports to India.
British exports that will see the samples fall include:
- gin and whiskey
- Aerospace, electric and medical devices
- beauty products
- Lamb, salmon, chocolates and cookies
- higher value cars
The British government said that the Agreement was the largest and most economical “bilateral trade agreement that has been signed by the United Kingdom since the European Union in 2020.
British Affairs Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the benefits for British companies and consumers were “massive”.
The prices on gin and whiskey, a key collision point in negotiations before, will be divided by two to 75%, with new reductions that will take effect in recent years.
The 100% prices on more expensive British manufacturing cars exported to India will fall to 10%, subject to a quota limiting the total number.
The agreement also includes provisions on the service sector and purchases allowing British companies to compete for more contracts.
In the words of the agreement, some Indian and British workers will also come from a three -year exemption Social security payments, which the Indian government called “an unprecedented achievement”.
The exemption applies to the staff of Indian companies temporarily transferred to the United Kingdom and to the workers of British companies transferred to India. Social security contributions will be paid by employers and employees in their country of origin only, rather than in both places.
The United Kingdom already has reciprocal agreements of similar “double contribution convention” with 17 other countries, including the EU, the United States and South Korea, the government said.
However, Opposition chief Kemi Badenoch described the agreement as “two -level two -level taxes on two levels”With the increase in work in the contributions of the employer or the budget in force last month.
The Shadow Commerce Secretary Andrew Griffith said: “Whenever work is negotiating, Great Britain is losing”.
Liberal Democratic deputy chief Daisy Cooper said it was “very worrying to hear the concerns that Indian workers coming here, companies may not have to pay taxes on these workers” and asked that deputies be authorized to vote on the agreement.
The government has said that the national insurance exemption would not affect the NHS funding, as the Indians working in the United Kingdom would always be required to pay the immigration supplement.

India, currently the fifth largest economy in the world, is expected to become the third largest in a few years, making it a desirable trading partner for the United Kingdom, currently the sixth world economy.
The United Kingdom is also a high priority trading partner for the government of Prime Minister Modi, which has an ambitious objective to increase the exports of 1 Billion by 2030.
The agreement is a victory for free trade at a time when the pricing campaign of American president Donald Trump put the idea on defensive fears and raised commercial wars.
It seems to have increased the momentum to conclude this trade agreement.
Rain Newton-Smith, CEO of the Business Lobby Group, the CBI, praised the agreement by saying that it had provided a “headlight of hope in the middle of the spectrum of protectionism” after Trump’s wave of prices.
British companies have seen “a myriad” opportunities on the Indian market, she added.
Allie Renison, of the Newgate SECC COMMUNICATION Society, and a former government sales advisor, said the agreement was potentially “transformational” due to India size, the growth rate and existing obstacles to access to its market.