India UK Relations

India UK Relations

India and the United Kingdom (UK) share a modern partnership bound by strong historical ties. UK-India relationship is rooted in India’s colonial history with the British and the relationship shared by both countries even after India’s independence. The bilateral relationship was upgraded to a “Strategic Partnership” in 2004.

The two countries enjoy a multi-faceted relationship spanning across trade and economy, health, science & technology, defence & security, people-to-people relations, climate change and close cooperation on multilateral issues. As Strategic Partners, India and UK increasingly seek to increase their collaboration in foreign policy and have a shared vision for peace, stability, democracy, and prosperity.

Areas of Cooperation

Trade & Investment – Merchandise trade between the two countries was US$15.45 billion in 2019-20 with the trade balance in favour of India.

• India was the 2nd largest source of FDI in UK after the US in 2019
• UK is India’s 4th largest inward investor, accounting for around 7% of all FDI into India.
• Both sides have agreed to establish ‘Enhanced Trade Partnership’, which is the first step towards a free trade agreement.

Defence Cooperation – India and the UK signed the Defence and International Security Partnership (DISP) in 2015 to provide a strategic roadmap and direction to the evolving India-UK Defence Relations.

• Ajeya Warrior (army-to-army biennial exercise), the Exercise Konkan (joint navy-to-navy annual exercise) and the Indradhanush (joint air-to-air exercise) happens between India and UK.

Maritime cooperation – Bilateral engagement has been increasing in this area

• UK is deploying Carrier Strike Group in Indian Ocean region in line with its strategic tilt to Indo-Pacific.

Education & Research – UK is among the favoured destinations for Indian students to pursue higher education.

• UK is India’s 2nd largest partner in Science and Technology collaborations – They collaborate under institutionalized mechanisms like UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) and through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) programmes.
• By 2021, the UK-India Newton-Bhabha programme will provided with more than £400m on joint research and innovation.

Climate & Environment – India-UK Green Growth Equity Fund is mobilising institutional investments in the renewable energy, waste management, electric mobility, and environment sub-sectors in India.

Health – Health sector collaboration is a key element of India-UK Strategic Partnership.

• The successful partnership between Oxford University, AstraZeneca and SII on Covid19 vaccine demonstrated the potential of Indian and UK expertise working together to solve international challenges.
• ‘Ayuryoga’ programme was launched in 2020 and started online modules to raise awareness and practise of Ayurveda and Yoga in UK.

Multilateral Collaboration – UK has been supportive of India’s permanent membership of UNSC since 2004.

• UK has also been a strong supporter of India’s membership of the NSG, MTCR, Australia Group and Wassenaar Arrangement.

Cultural & Diaspora Relations – Indian Diaspora in UK is one of the largest ethnic minority communities in the country, constituting almost 2.5% of UK population and contribute about 6% of the country’s GDP.

• At present there are 16 Indian origin MPs in the UK Parliament and, out of these, 5 of them hold key Ministerial posts in the Government.
• Also, there has been a gradual mainstreaming of Indian culture and absorption of Indian cuisine, cinema, languages, religion, philosophy, performing arts, etc. in UK.

While India’s relations with countries as different as the US and France have dramatically improved in recent years, ties with Britain have lagged due to several reasons.

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