India-UK relations

The United Kingdom is committed to developing an enhanced partnership with India. The UK/India collaboration is mutually beneficial and wide ranging; covering- development, regional stability, trade and investment, climate change, counter terrorism and reform of the global international systems.

We share the core values of democracy, pluralism and tolerance.

British society is enriched by its strong, dynamic human ties to India. India gets the second highest number of tourists from the UK. The UK’s largest visa operation worldwide is in India and processed in the region of half a million applications in 2010. Between 1.5m and 2m people of Indian origin live in the UK, the largest ethnic group.

Partners in business

The UK and India are among the top investors in each other’s economies bringing significant long term benefits to both.

In 2010, UK India Bilateral trade grew by 20% bringing the total to £13 bn. In the same year, the UK attracted 97 new projects from India generating 6,096 jobs. India is the 3rd largest investor in the UK. In 2011 (till end October) UK exports to India increased by 45% making India, the UK’s largest non EU market.

The UK aims to double its bilateral trade with India by 2015. India seeks to increase its bilateral trade with the UK to £24 billion by 2015.

The UK is by far the most popular business destination in Europe for Indian companies, of the 1200 Indian companies in the EU, 700 are in the UK. Indian companies are playing an increasingly important role in the UK economy. Tata is one of UK’s largest manufacturing employers.

Some recent UK success stories in India include:

British Petroleum’s $7billion partnership with Reliance which will put the UK in the lead among India’s investors.
Serco’s recent investment of £385 million in Intelnet.
JCB’s Indian operation which is growing by 15%
United Biscuits (McVitie’s) who have invested about $1.6 billion in their first factory in India.
Pearson’s school in Bangalore, the first in the world under its own brand name.
Whitbread, which plans to invest £75 million in India and will operate over 80 properties.

It’s not just the big companies. Among SMEs, recent successes include:

CDE Asia Ltd. £1million iron-ore contract and a £10 million project to set up a iron-ore beneficiation plant.
Testplant, which has signed an international “Collaboration Agreement” with Wipro expected to grow at £1million per year.
Andrews Industries, Calex electronics and David Brown have also recently entered the market.

We continue to see strong Indian investment in the UK. Genser Aerospace has set up its European headquarters in Manchester. Havells Sylvania, which manufactures lighting products in East Sussex, has moved its European headquarters from Frankfurt to London, and more of its research and development operations to the UK

Partners in the Knowledge Economy

Together, the UK and India are leaders in ensuring that knowledge sectors drive inclusive economic growth in the 21st century. There is a significant increase in the UK/India partnership on education, covering primary education, higher and further education and research into the most advanced technologies.

There are over 80 collaborative UK-India programmes leading to UK degrees or awards in India. There are some 5,000 Indians studying for UK degrees in India.

The UK is the home of the English language. The UK leads in the teaching of Business English providing skills for better employability in India. British Council is working towards reaching 100m English learners in the next few years and its Project English initiative has impacted on 17million learners across India. The British Council are helping train 750,000 English teachers and are now delivering English training under the SSA (Primary Education for all Initiative) in the state of Assam and with the RMSA (Secondary Education for all Initiative) in Bihar.

Up to 700 scholarship awards are offered to Indians by UK institutions each year, including 50 FCO-sponsored Chevening scholars. The scholarships offer highly coveted opportunities for India's future leaders, decision makers and opinion formers. They help recipients hone their leadership qualities by providing them with an opportunity to study in the stimulating intellectual environs of Britain's leading institutions of higher learning. The Chevening Alumni comprises leaders from civil society, academia, government, NGOs and business. At present we have seven programmes up and running for Indian citizens-

Chevening Gurukul Scholarships for Indian Leaders
Chevening Rolls-Royce Science and Innovation Leadership Programme
Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme
Chevening IBPF programme for Parliamentarians
Chevening - Weidenfeld scholarships
HSBC Chevening Scholarships
Chevening Clore Scholarships for cultural Leaders

The 2006-11 UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) has linked 475 schools and higher education establishments in the UK and India. 2011 saw the launch of the second phase of UKIERI with matched funding by UK and Indian governments (in the region of £ 5 million over the next 3 years). The second phase of UKIERI will focus on four areas, building a new generation of leaders, innovation partnerships, skills development and enhancing mobility.

UK and India researchers collaborate in a wide range of areas, including issues of global concern. Research Councils (RCUK) Office in India and the UK Government Science and Innovation Network promote this work. In the last three years (2008-2011), joint research collaboration between the UK, India and third parties has grown from less than £ 1 million to over £ 80 million, covering a wide range of research themes helping to address global challenges, such as energy, climate change, social sciences, healthcare and life sciences.

Partners in development

Development is a core part of the wider UK-India relationship. The Indian Finance Minister and the UK International Development Secretary have recently agreed the future shape of the UK–India development programme. Both countries’ believe it is in their interest to continue a successful development collaboration to promote prosperity, combat poverty and achieve the MDGs.

The two countries will work in partnership to build on India’s own successful poverty-reduction schemes. This partnership has already delivered real impact in India. UK contributions have helped lift 2.3 million people out of poverty in rural areas in the last 5 years. Since 2003, support from the Department for International Development (DFID) has put an additional 1.2 million children in school and provided more than 6,000 functional classrooms. It has trained 75,000 teachers since 2008 and helped save 17,000 lives per year since 2005.

The UK Government is bringing the development partnership with India up-to-date reflecting the huge changes in India and the need for our work to be additional and catalytic. The UK will maintain the level of the current programme (£280 million a year until 2014/15) and focus its work more tightly on India’s poorest and excluded people in the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa.

The UK and India will work closely together to pilot a new approach to promote private sector investment in India’s eight low income states to deliver jobs, products, infrastructure and basic services for poorest people. We will develop a stronger partnership on global development issues such as growth and trade, climate change, access to essential medicines and high quality research.

Climate Change

The UK and Indian governments have continued good collaboration on climate change, low carbon energy both on international negotiations and on domestic energy and climate policies.

There is huge scope in India and the UK to use low carbon approaches not only to fight climate change but to deliver energy security and economic growth and development
UK India Business Leaders Climate Group launched a landmark report in London in November 2010, setting a strong agenda for change in the corporate world and putting business at the heart of action for climate change.

Partners in security

Both the UK and India have suffered serious terrorist attacks over the years and are among the strongest proponents of international co-operation to counter terrorism and extremism. The UK and India are strategic partners in this field. Bilateral operational links are expanding and deepening, close cooperation around the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games represented a significant security success.

The UK-India defence relationship has never been stronger. The bilateral programme of exercises, exchanges, training courses and high-level visits across all Services continues apace. Defence equipment co-operation includes supply of AW101 helicopters and Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers. Eurofighter Typhoon, which was deployed to India for Exercise Indra Dhanush 2, is among the top two bids for the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft contract.

Partners on global issues

The UK welcomes India’s growing global role and looks forward to deeper exchanges on key international security issues. The UK continues to support India’s bid for permanent membership on the Council.

The UK and India are partners in the G20 and worked closely together to promote a global recovery after the 2008-9 financial crisis.

UK in India

India-UK relations