Progress at the UK-India Economic & Financial Dialogue
Nirmala Sitharaman was in London last week.
Dear all,
In a world of ever-increasing online connectivity, good old-fashioned meetings on the golf course still work. Bridge India was delighted to be a partner for the first-ever East African Asians Golf Day in Welwyn Garden City last weekend. 60 golfers joined another 120 guests for the dinner, when a traditional British golf course was taken over by Gujarati and Punjabi entrepreneurs from around the country.
We’re looking forward to welcoming Lord Simon McDonald (Former Permanent Under-Secretary and Head of the Diplomatic Service, FDCO), Raja Ganapathy (Founding Partner, Spring Marketing Capital), Dr Aanchal Jain (CEO, PMI Electro Mobility Solutions) and Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma (Chair, Tipra Motha, Tripura) to Ideas for India on Fri 30 May.
We will be announcing some more speakers in the coming days. Scroll down for more info and to book your tickets. Members attend for free, so make sure you become a Member today here.
We’re also delighted to be Partners for the Khushwant Singh Literature Festival, taking place on Saturday 31 May. Tickets are free to book and hosted at SOAS in London.
We’re very happy to have crossed 5k followers on LinkedIn! If you’re not following us, you can do so here.
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Member news
Welcome to Shama Gupta, Kumar Raju and Archana Bhatia as our newest Members.
Shama has a broad career portfolio as a solicitor, senior lecturer, professional support lawyer and currently as a responsible business (ESG) ambassador with Freeths LLP. She has joined Bridge India to share her passion for India (she maintains close links since her birth there) and to collaborate with like-minded people.
Kumar is a Capital Markets and Financial Regulations expert with over 23 years of experience in banking and technology. He has led major transformation programmes at Goldman Sachs, UBS, Lloyds Bank and others, and works with Tier 1 banks across the UK, Europe, and the US. Since moving to the UK from India in 2017, he has focused on driving transparency and innovation through data and technology. Kumar mentors with the Mayor of London’s Business Growth Programme and is a school governor at Ark Greenwich Free School. He joined Bridge India to contribute his expertise in Capital Markets and Regulations. He has also been developing a non-profit data platform for ESG reporting, aligned with European standards, which could benefit companies in India.
Archana is a seasoned financial expert with over a decade of experience empowering Overseas Indians and Indians with the right financial tools and knowledge. A proud alumnus of Hindu College, Delhi, she has worked globally with numerous individuals and families, helping them make informed decisions about their financial futures. As the Founder and CEO of Prosperidhi Financial, they are empaneled with all asset management companies in India.
Pratik Dattani was on NDTV last week to share his views on Nirmala Sitharaman’s trip to the UK, for the annual Economic & Financial Dialogue and bilateral FTA negotiations.
If you’ve ever faced anti-migrant rhetoric, you’ll be grateful for the carefully compiled, insightful work in Dinesh Dhamija’s new book Where The World Moves: Chronicles of Migration. It will arm you with the facts, statistics and historical precedents to push back. It is a persuasive, evidence-based assertion of the hugely positive role migrants make around the world. It is also a plea for common sense. Plummeting birthrates and ageing populations mean developed countries are in dire need of workers. Instead of surreptitiously allowing migration while simultaneously decrying it and promising to ‘bring down the numbers’, wouldn’t it be better to integrate migrants, highlight their contributions and harness their energies? The world needs migrants, so let’s be honest about it and stop creating ill-feeling for the sake of cheap votes.
Progress at the UK-India Economic & Financial Dialogue
Bilateral trade between the UK and India is valued at over £40bn currently. When Indian Finance Minister Sitharaman met British PM Keir Starmer, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow of Trump’s tariffs loomed large. Britain has also been trying to get India to lower tariffs on whisky.
According to The Guardian, the UK and India have agreed 90% of their free trade agreement, businesses were told on a call with negotiators this week. A government source told the Guardian that mobility, which involves visas for Indian workers and has been one of the most contentious issues in the negotiations, had largely been resolved.
The three focus areas for the Economic & Financial Dialogue (EFD) were enhancing growth, securing economic resilience and multilateralism and boosting sustainable and climate finance. Each in turn:
More growth
The UK’s Industrial Strategy’s priority growth-driving sectors, such as advanced manufacturing and life sciences (the “research in the UK and make in India” plan), clean energy, professional and business services, financial services, and the creative industries.
More cooperation across banking, insurance, pensions, capital markets, and sustainable finance. More work needed on AI in financial services.
Both sides welcomed the recent regulations allowing direct listing in GIFT City, which will enable Indian companies to list in international jurisdictions and noted the feasibility being explored by India for this at the London Stock Exchange.
The UK welcomes the recent announcements in the 2024 and 2025 Union Budgets in India on the move towards rationalisation in the taxation of foreign corporate entities and enhancing FDI limits in insurance sector to 100%.
Deeper collaboration, through GIFT, in pensions and insurance.
Both sides agreed to explore helping the internationalisation of the INR using London as a global financial centre.
More working together
Both sides reiterated their commitment to a rules-based international system and collaboration on supply chain resilience and global challenges (read: let’s not given in to the Trump chaos).
They recognised the importance of addressing debt vulnerabilities in low and middle income countries. They will continue working together to deliver debt restructurings in a predictable, timely, orderly, and coordinated manner through the G20 Common Framework and beyond.
They acknowledged the urgency and importance of realignment in quota shares at the IMF to better reflect members’ relative positions in the world economy while protecting the quota shares of the poorest members i.e. India needs more of a say.
They acknowledged the critical need to tackle illicit financial flows.
More sustainability financing
Both sides will deliver against Nationally Determined Contributions, as per Article 4 of the Paris Agreement (i.e. forget what Trump thinks).
Collaborative working required to realise requisite climate finance for developing countries.
British International Investment, the UK’s development finance institution, has invested $715m into climate-related projects in India and is on track to meet its ambition announced at the UK-India EFD in 2021 to invest $1 billion in such projects over 2022-2026.
Both sides noted the role of India’s Priority Sector Lending guidelines in driving finance to critical sectors for sustainable growth.
Upcoming events
Book launch - An Economic History of India: Growth, Income and Inequalities from the Mughals to the 21st Century (5:45pm | Wed 4 June | British Academy)
India’s economy has undergone profound changes over centuries, shaped by empire, colonial rule, and global integration. In a new book published by Cambridge University Press, Bishnupriya Gupta (Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick and CAGE Research Director) offers a major new economic history of India, spanning from the reign of Akbar in the sixteenth century to India’s post-independence transformation in the twenty-first century.
When: Wednesday 4 June 2025, 17:45
Where: British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AH (closest tube stations: Piccadilly Circus, Charing Cross)
RSVP: Click here
Ideas for India conference (30 May | Royal Lancaster London | Book here)
Bridge India’s annual Ideas for India conference is back, on Friday 30 May. It is the leading forum to engage in high level discussions on the New India.
Our event brings together policy, business, tech, media and civil society leaders for pertinent discussions on India’s development.
Ideas for India is part of the wider India Week®.
When: All day, Fri 30 May
Where: Royal Lancaster London, Lancaster Terrace, London W2 2T
Tickets: Free for Members, £200 or £500 for Non-Members | Book here
Khushwant Singh Literature Festival (31 May, London | 3 June, Oxford | Book here)
The KSLF honours Khushwant Singh’s legacy by promoting democracy, tolerance, and compassion, creating a space for discussions on gender equality, free expression, and environmental conservation. This year is themed “Humanity Across Borders”, which explores global conflicts, displacement, and climate change, highlighting resilience amid war, the refugee crisis, and equality struggles.
Day 1: 11am - 6pm, Sat 31 May | SOAS, London
Day 2: 4-7pm, Somerville College, University of Oxford
Tickets: Free | Book here
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The Bridge India Team
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About Bridge India: Bridge India is a progressive non-profit think tank dedicated to discourse on public policy. Bridge India is a company limited by guarantee Companies House number 15283062.