PM Modi leaves for 4-day UK, Maldives visit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday emplaned for a crucial visit to the United Kingdom, with the formal signing of the landmark India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) expected to be the centrepiece of his two-day trip.
PM Modi will hold wide-ranging talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and is also scheduled to meet King Charles III during his July 23–24 stay.
Starmer is set to host him at Chequers, the British prime minister’s official country residence near London.
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is likely to sign the free trade agreement alongside his UK counterpart Jonathan Reynolds and the two prime ministers, capping three years of hard bargaining.
Britain sees the deal as its biggest trade win since Brexit and hopes it will inject fresh momentum into defence, research and tech partnerships with India.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri confirmed that “last-minute work” was underway to seal the deal, which is set to benefit nearly 99 per cent of India’s exports by removing tariffs and will help British firms export products like whisky and cars more easily to India.
In 2023–24, bilateral trade between the two countries crossed USD 55 billion. The UK is India’s sixth largest investor with USD 36 billion invested so far, while nearly 1,000 Indian companies in Britain employ around 1,00,000 people. Indian investments in the UK stand at close to USD 20 billion.
Beyond trade, defence and high-tech collaboration will be on the table. Both India and the United Kingdom have stepped up joint military exchanges and are exploring electric propulsion systems together. A recent milestone has been the University of Southampton opening a campus in Gurugram, the first under India’s revamped education policy — with more UK institutions looking to follow.