Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at the Global Fintech Fest, during a visit by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (not pictured), on October 9, 2025, in Mumbai, India.
| Photo Credit:
Leon Neal
India and UK’s bilateral trade currently stands at $56 billion and India is targeting to double this amount by 2030, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here today in a joint India-UK CEO forum hosted alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Modi proposed that business leaders from India and the UK could identify sectors where the two countries can become world leader, whether in fintech, green hydrogen, semi-conductors, or start-ups.
“Today, our bilateral trade stands at around $56 billion dollars. We have set a target to double this by 2030 — and I am confident that we can achieve it even before the deadline. India today offers policy stability, predictable regulation, and large-scale demand,” Modi said. Uday Kotak, Ajay Piramal, Sanjiv Puri and Ritesh Agarwal were among the Indian business leaders who attended the CEO forum.
In July 2025, India and the UK signed a free trade agreement in UK’s Chequers. Modi said the deal will open up market access and empower medium and small sized firms in both countries while generating millions of jobs.
Modi said there are investment opportunities for India and the UK across sectors, including infrastructure, pharma, energy, and finance, among others.
“It is also encouraging that nine UK universities are going to establish campuses in India. In the coming years, partnerships between academia and industry will become the driving force of our innovation economy,” Modi said.
Further, newer opportunities for collaboration are emerging in areas such as telecom, AI, biotech, quantum, semiconductors, cyber, and space. In the defence sector too, Modi says, the countries are moving toward co-design and co-production.
“Now is the time to transform all these possibilities into concrete cooperation. We should move forward in a structured manner in strategic sectors like critical minerals, rare earths, and APIs. This will give our partnership a futuristic direction,” he said.
“To give new momentum to our partnership, Prime Minister Starmer and I announced Vision 2035. It is a blueprint of our shared ambitions. Between open and democratic societies like India and the UK, there is no area where our cooperation cannot grow,” he added.
Top priority
Infrastructure development remains a top priority for India, Modi said, adding that by 2030, India aims to achieve 500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity. Further, India is also opening up the nuclear power sector for private participation.
Starmer, meanwhile, said business leaders from both countries have engaged in productive talks over the past two days. He said the UK’s delegation consists of diverse companies, investors and called on developing more business partnerships between the two countries.
“In the three months since we signed FTA back in Chequers, we’ve seen a £6 billion boost in trade and investment. That’s on top of the increased numbers over the last year already in the great ambition we have to go further, which I believe we can do as we go down this road. It includes Rolls-Royce agreeing huge new contracts with major Indian airlines. Today, we’re announcing new investments from Revolut and Tide. Exactly these sorts of connections we’re trying to build,” Starmer said.
Published on October 9, 2025