UK PM Rishi Sunak reiterates FTA terms with India only if Britain benefits; check details

By Team Newsable | First Published Sep 6, 2023, 3:34 PM IST

India and UK have been locked in the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) for a long time now. The political establishment that facilitated Brexit went on to promise the delivery of a Free Trade Agreement with India to recoup financial benefits for their market.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday reiterated that Britain will only agree Free Trade Agreement with India if and when the terms benefit the former coloniser. The statement comes ahead of Rishi Sunak’s India visit for the G20 summit this week.

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The then political establishment was confident of a speedy outcome in the process. But contrary to that, the talks have stretched and several deadlines missed. Some believe India has made undeliverable demands while others believe the UK has overestimated its cards on the negotiating table.

A Diwali deadline was made by Boris Johnson and then PM Liz Truss last year but it was a far-fetched wishful belief. There are several issues that India and the U.K. are not able to find common ground on. Even after a year, both the delegations are still locked in talks. The 12th round of talks recently concluded in India.

Sam Lowe, a trade expert at the political advisory group Flint Global said, "India negotiates as if it is a country with one billion people, which it is. In the UK discourse, it is the big UK negotiating with little India. But India is on course to be one of the biggest economies in the world – we are talking about a country that is huge and doesn't feel the need to cut a deal."

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The Indian delegation under Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has been patient in the negotiations. The UK has been desperate to strike a deal so that it can better sell it to its domestic audience. India is not in such a unique position and doesn’t feel the urgency due to its economic trajectory.

However, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made a defensive statement over the FTA talks just before leaving for India. "He said negotiations around a free trade deal were progressing and that he would only agree an approach which worked for the whole UK," his spokesperson revealed on Tuesday.

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