Financial services an exciting aspect of UK-India FTA: Rishi Sunak
London:
According to British Chancellor Rishi Sunak, there is an “exciting” prospect of closer exchanges between India and the UK with the two countries negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the financial services sector.
In an interaction with journalists ahead of the India Global Forum’s UK-India Awards celebrating the success of the Indian community within the UK-India corridor on Friday, the senior British Indian cabinet minister said he is looking forward to a great deal for both countries in areas such as fintech. Let’s see the big opportunity and welcome the opening. Top of the Indian insurance market.
The minister also expressed confidence in the Diwali deadline for drafting the FTA.
“There’s good progress, and I think one of the exciting things for me in my role is financial services,” he said.
“Financial services is an area that has a huge opportunity for both countries. India aims to spread insurance across the economy because insurance is a great thing to enable protection for individuals and growth. We in the UK help with that. Because we have a great insurance industry. And gradually, we are able to provide more of those products, services and expertise to Indian firms, citizens and companies,” he said.
He also mentioned India’s plans for a sovereign green bond and that the UK, after going through that journey, would like to help India raise that capital.
“It builds on a tradition of helping us provide capital to India from around the world because one of the defining movements of capital of our times will be the flow of capital from the West to the rapidly growing India. This is an incredibly exciting and important event. And the UK can help to be the place that allows India to access the largest pool of capital on the best possible terms to drive its growth,” he said.
In an interaction with the Indian Journalists’ Association (IJA), the senior cabinet minister said that he is very supportive of India playing an “increasingly influential role in the region and indeed in the world as the world’s largest democracy”. “And an FTA would prove to be a great champion of that cause.
The 42-year-old UK-born Indian-origin minister, who said he is looking forward to visiting India with his family soon, also highlighted the important role played by the British-Indian community in cementing the “partnership”. inserted. equal” between the two countries.
“The UK does not have a monopoly on one opportunity. India has a lot of opportunities; we also want to make sure that if this living bridge is going to become a real thing, we have to make it easy for the people. In the UK To go to India, to study in world-class institutions, to work in all these wonderful start-ups,” he said.
The minister also pointed to reforms in the visa system to make it easier for talented Indians to come to the UK and said several categories are now open to talented Indians, including the new high-capacity personal visa.
“Our plan over time is to expand what we consider to be markers of high potential individuals. So that the eligibility criteria for that visa will expand over time, but that visa applies to people in the university. Therefore, it is to Indian citizens. This is an incredibly generous and powerful visa that will benefit Indian citizens studying in any of these [global] Universities.,” he said.
Asked whether he sees himself as the UK’s first British Indian prime minister, he spoke of Britain’s “openness and tolerance” that someone like him would hold number 11 in one of the most senior positions in the UK. Downing Street official. government.
“We need to make sure this is not the end of the British Indian story. We can achieve much more. We can do much more. And so I am excited about the future,” Mr. Sunak, Son-in-law of Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy said.