- Friday, February 28, 2025
In an interview, the minister said he is keen to promote the concept of strong investment protection agreements that allow UK investors to invest in India with a sense of security, stability and predictability.
By: Shubham Ghosh
UK’S INVESTMENT minister Dominic Johnson on Tuesday (27) said he would prefer to see strong investment safeguards in any future deal with India and that the two nations could work more closely on financial services even without a trade deal, Reuters reported.
Free trade agreement (FTA) talks between the UK and India were launched in January 2022 with then British prime minister Boris Johnson setting an ambitious deadline to conclude them by Diwali in October the same year.
Johnson’s successor Rishi Sunak said he would not sacrifice quality for speed in trade negotiations.
While Johnson did not make any remark on an FTA timeline, he said there existed “a gigantic opportunity for us, in terms of being a funnel for investment into India, and benefiting from Indian investment back into the UK”, the report added.
“I’m keen to promote the concept of strong investment protection agreements that allow UK investors to invest in India with a sense of security, stability and predictability, and I might say vice versa,” the minister said in an interview.
He also said that the South Asian economy would gain from liberalising its financial services to resemble the British system more closely, and that British expertise could facilitate it, outside the purview of any future trade deal.
“The more India can do to formalise its economy and to harmonise its trade and tax systems, and licensing regimes across India, the better,” he was quoted as saying.
