What UK-India trade pact really signals

The newly minted UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) isn't just about boosting £36 billion in bilateral trade. It's a masterstroke in strategic repositioning for both nations in an era defined by supply chain fragmentation and democratic anxiety.

- Neeti Shikha

At a time when the U.S. and EU are retreating behind industrial subsidies and China is openly weaponizing trade, this pact signals a bold bet on democratic resilience, economic complementarity, and a shared vision for the 21st century.

While critics obsess over market access minutiae, they're missing the bigger picture: this is Britain's most consequential post-Brexit partnership, and arguably India's most potent Western alliance since independence.

Compared to the UK's relatively modest deals with Australia or New Zealand, the India FTA offers vastly greater upside, which is up to £28 billion in additional trade by 2035.

India's $3.7 trillion economy, its 1.4 billion people (with a median age of 28), and its rapidly accelerating technological ambitions present a scale and dynamism no Anglosphere nation can match.

This isn't a transaction; it's a fusion of British innovation capital and India's human capital engine.

In a world still debating how to regulate AI, the UK and India are already acting.

They're constructing a digital corridor between London and Bengaluru.

Indian IT giants like TCS and Infosys already employ more than 110,000 people in the UK, driving nearly a third of London's fintech activity.

The FTA's digital provisions will push joint R&D in emerging technologies like quantum computing and cybersecurity.

At a moment when China controls 70% of rare earth processing, this partnership is essential to safeguard democratic tech futures.

India is also the pharmacy to the world, supplying 70% of WHO vaccines and a quarter of the UK's generic drugs.

The FTA's mutual recognition of drug approvals could save the NHS over £2 billion by the end of the decade.

But beyond cost savings, it creates a resilient alternative to China in global pharmaceutical supply chains, especially as India ramps up domestic API production under its £1 billion PLI scheme.