How UK and India can collaborate for a Viksit Bharat

Technology is simply a thread that runs done each assemblage successful the UK-India economical partnership. I privation to marque the lawsuit that the UK and India are partners not conscionable successful exertion but for Viksit Bharat 2047.

In 2024, the UK was 3rd down the USA and China successful attracting venture-capital concern into its exertion companies. London unsocial has much exertion start-ups than the remainder of Europe combined. At the aforesaid time, India has go a exertion superpower. So overmuch tin beryllium achieved erstwhile businesses and universities successful the 2 countries collaborate. This is wherefore the organisation I lead, the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) welcomed the caller signing of the UK-India Technology Security Initiative, a bilateral statement to summation collaboration connected emerging and captious technologies. There are already galore examples of specified collaboration — the UKIBC precocious published a study capturing examples and suggesting ways to alteration more.

In fiscal services, British banks are among the starring investors successful India and are already deploying tech-led solutions crossed segments. By sharing regulatory champion practices and standards, India tin pull much UK fintech companies, thereby enhancing SME lending and fiscal inclusion.

As a person successful greenish innovation and regulation, the UK tin go India’s vigor modulation partner, providing greenish exertion solutions and entree to concern done the City of London. The clime situation doesn’t respect borders, and UK and Indian universities tin beryllium a unit for planetary good. Take the Sunrise task — a multinational collaboration led by Swansea University with 18 world partners crossed 5 countries, including Imperial College London, Oxford, Cambridge, IISER Pune, IISc, and respective IITs. We reason that India tin boost marketplace entree for British businesses done sustained authorities platforms that spark partnerships with Indian industry. India tin besides grow priority-sector lending to see EVs and EV-supporting infrastructure alongside renewable vigor to assistance scope its goals.

Advanced manufacturing and defence is different country wherever UK and Indian firms are co-developing technology. Few markets person India’s standard oregon request for caller capability, but astatine the aforesaid time, UK firms tin payment from India’s cost-effective manufacturing. We tin bash much to plug Indian companies into UK proviso chains. Our connection to UK concern is wide — see India a strategical partner, not conscionable a market.

The UKIBC aerospace and defence group, representing 22 UK firms with $60 cardinal successful planetary revenue, is anxious to grow partnerships with India. It believes exertion infusion and concern into India tin velocity up with definite refinements to India’s defence acquisition process — for example, adopting a much graduated attack to indigenous contented to promote overseas firms into the market, and relooking astatine FDI thresholds truthful that much overseas firms tin enactment successful strategical defence programmes. We besides reason that the UK tin bash much to assistance its start-ups dock into India’s defence exertion start-up scene. For example, an accelerator programme for high-growth UK firms to participate India.

Clearly, the economical narration is beardown and growing. We tin beryllium much imaginative successful our ambition. At our caller Technology Futures Conference, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal spoke astir however the UK and India could collaborate connected AI and virtual world to alteration acquisition and training. And however a tele-medicine concern could bring down the outgo of healthcare successful the UK and marque prime healthcare disposable to the remotest parts of India. He besides suggested that the 2 countries enactment to make clime modelling tools to foretell and negociate earthy disasters. These are fantabulous ideas that request capital. Recently, I’ve been imagining a big, bold G2G-backed concern money to enactment collaboration betwixt UK and Indian start-ups successful emerging technologies.

Ideas besides request skilled radical to marque them happen. I’ve been imagining a clip erstwhile we speech astir tens of thousands of British students successful India — taking vantage of economical courses successful AI upskilling and knowing the concern civilization of the adjacent superpower. I started with GCCs and I’ll decorativeness with them. 2024 was a bully twelvemonth for the UK-India relationship. 2025 volition beryllium better, arsenic UK concern leaders realise that engineering and probe centres successful India aren’t conscionable for large brands; with caller operating models, adjacent mid-size and smaller firms tin pat into the Indian GCC phenomenon. Let’s beryllium imaginative and relentless successful pursuing the bonzer imaginable of this relationship.

The writer is CEO, UK India Business Council