Former UK Business secretary Sajid Javid held talks on the possibility of a separate UK-India Free Trade Agreement deal with Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier this month. Both leaders, in the meeting, discussed all topics of mutual interest and expressed hopes to take proactive steps to deepen their ties and engagement in near future.
Sitharaman called an FTA with Britain post Brexit, a "fresh exercise". A commerce ministry statement read, "Sitharaman said we have invited chief negotiator from UK's side to engage with our chief negotiator to take forward the entire process." Talks for a Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement or BTIA began in 2007, but have remained largely inconclusive. Talking about the possibility of a separate FTA, Sitharaman said, "Naturally, once the process of informal discussions starts then we get into discussions in detail. They will all fall into a formal framework. Whether it is a preferential or a free trade agreement will be a mutually discussed. With the EU of course, it shall continue but it will be recalibrated not that the UK is out of EU, so we shall be doing both."
The meet and the statements, however, came before Theresa May took office and the UK saw a change in the cabinet. Javid did leave on a good note, as his talks with Sitharaman were dubbed largely constructive. The now Communities Secretary, Javid said the bilateral meeting was "very positive and constructive. India and UK already have a very strong trade and investment relations and we are looking at how we can go further and look forward to working with her." Sitharaman, on her side said, "My talks with him and his visit have been on informally but pro-actively engaging on trade related matters post-Brexit and on that, I got the impression that the UK minister is very keen that we start the informal process and we are quite happy to engage with the UK post Brexit. Trade with UK is substantial. Indian investments in UK are one of the biggest. A lot of jobs created in the UK are by Indian investors. Similarly on services, we have great potential. I have agreed to have our chief negotiator and invited his chief negotiator to speak to each other, so that we informally know from where we are going to start."
The commerce secretary Rita Teaotia said that the exit does affect India's interests on those tariff lines where concessions were being considered in the proposed India-EU FTA on account of Britain.
