UK-India FTA to help increase trade by at least USD 20 bn, says Anil Agarwal

New Delhi: The historic signing of the free trade agreement between India and the UK will help increase trade between the two countries by at least USD 20 billion, and lead to the creation of more jobs, Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal said.

The world's fifth and sixth-largest economies on Thursday signed a landmark free trade agreement that will cut tariffs on goods from cosmetics and textiles to whisky and cars, and allow more market access for businesses in the two nations.

The pact was signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UK.

"I congratulate PM Modi and (UK) Prime Minister (Keir) Starmer for this historic agreement," Agarwal said. "This is a great achievement between Britain and India as they walk down the progressive path."

The deal having been struck after three years of talks, he said, adding that a lot of hard work has gone into reaching the agreement.

"The FTA will be a win-win for both countries. It will boost economic activity and create many more jobs and opportunities for entrepreneurship in both countries," he said. "This will help both countries to increase the trade by at least USD 20 billion." Agarwal said he has closely seen the economic engagement between India and the UK grow substantially over the last two decades.

"We made a great partnership, be it trade, investment or people-to-people links," he added.

The deal, the UK's biggest such agreement since Brexit and India's first with a European economy, aims to expand the bilateral trade.