As India and the UK are set to resume discussions on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between both countries in the last week of February, Brendan Dabhi speaks to Chandru Iyer, His Majesty’s Deputy Trade Commissioner for South Asia and Deputy High Commissioner for Karnataka and Kerala, on investments between both nations, challenges, potential sectors for collaboration and immigration.In February, four ministers from the UK were scheduled to visit India. The resumption of dialogues on the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that was recently in view of the national elections in both the nations are awaited.Now, even as the back and forth on tariff regimes proposed or already imposed by the US, under President Donald Trump, has raised fears regarding their impact on global trade, Iyer spoke to The Indian Express about investments between the two countries and a range of other topics in the context of these larger global changes.Excerpts:What is the status of industrial investment from India in Britain and vice versa, and how do you see this investment increasing in the coming days?PM Narendra Modi and PM Keir Starmer met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil and they reiterated their keenness to take forward the India-UK strategic relationship and to refresh a strategic comprehensive partnership.In parallel, they also agreed to kickstart the FTA discussions as early as next week. Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Jonathan Reynolds, will visit Delhi and meet Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and the FTA discussions will resume. Currently, the India-UK trade is approximately £42 billion and we hope that these discussions lead to an upward trajectory of these figure.India continues to be the second largest investor in the UK for the fifth year. The ‘India meets Britain’ report by Grant Thornton and CII talks about Indian investment in the UK. Currently, there are over 970 Indian companies in the UK, with a combined revenue of £42.8 billion, employing about 1.2 lakh people in the UK. Likewise, there are 667 British companies in India, with a collective turnover of £46.44 billion, and employing 5,23,460 people in India. Roughly, India and UK support around 7 lakh jobs in each other’s countries — which is significant.Gujarat continues to be a key partner state for the UK and we hope there is further improvement. Ease-to-do-business in Gujarat is welcomed by British companies. Similarly, Gujarat-based companies, such as Intas Pharmaceuticals, Zydus Lifesciences, Dishman have significant investments in the UK. Other companies, such as Astral, Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Meril Life Sciences, Shaily, Carysil, MR Organisation, Cygnet, and many more have investments in the UK.Story continues below this adThe technology security initiative was announced by both countries last year. Under this, we have identified critical and emerging areas, including critical minerals, semiconductors, quantum tech, AI, where we expect both countries to work closely.Also, our MoS for Defence, Lord Vernon Coaker, attended the Aero India event in Bengaluru. There was a lot of discussions around defence and security, as well as aerospace as a sector and what more we can do in that area.Could you expound on your agenda during your visit to Gujarat? What can we expect from your meetings here?We visited our existing investors in the UK from Gujarat to ask them if there are any challenges or concerns that we can address. It is very important that we act as a catalyst and enabler in investments. Our aim was also to meet prospective investors. While our team here does a great job of attracting investment to the UK, there are some investors who may be on the fence. So I am here to just support the team and give potential investors the assurance that the UK is the right place to invest and help them decide and make investments.I also wanted to come and explore some new sectors like gaming, education. There is also a lot of interest in the IT sector.Story continues below this adWhat are the challenges for British investment in India? Does Brexit make it difficult?It would be wrong to say that there are no challenges. One of them is that it is a very competitive landscape for us. We have competition from other nations where Indian companies would like to go and invest. Our challenge is to understand how to pitch and convince them that the UK is better than others in terms of opportunities, tax credits available, as well as government incentives.Brexit is done, and we live in the new world order. And I don’t think it impacts investments in the UK. But at the same time, we understand that the EU is our largest trading partner and the UK has very good relations with its fellow EU countries.High Commissioner Lindy Cameron earlier said that the UK would like to advance collaboration in the renewable energy sector. How do you look at this?Broadly, we see a lot of potential for collaboration. Here, it is important to show the UK’s commitment to India. This month, in February itself, we have had four UK ministers visiting India. Last week, we had Ed Miliband, the secretary of state for energy and climate, in Delhi for the India Energy Week. He met cabinet ministers and discussions ranged from green hydrogen, renewable energy, to possibilities of offshore wind farms in some states. Net zero sustainability and climate are key focus areas for the UK and we want to work with India in these areas.Does the US exit from the Paris Climate Accords push back the climate change agenda? How will it impact green tech missions, especially in the context of the UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions) where the UK has promised help to India in becoming carbon-neutral by 2070?I will keep the political aspect aside, but as far as the UK-India climate discussions are concerned, I’ll go back to Ed Miliband’s visit and say that we are very pleased that India is taking the lead in the Solar Alliance and we are trying to see how we can work very closely with India on this.Story continues below this adFurther, climate financing or green financing is an area where the city of London Corporation is seeing how we can support India’s needs in that area. The Lord Mayor of the City of London Corporation (Alderman Alastair King) is in Mumbai this week and one of the focus areas of the visit is green financing.Will Britain help out Gujarat with the Indian Olympic bid, guided by its experience of hosting the 2012 games? Can you share some details?Our Deputy High Commissioner for Gujarat, Steven Hickling, has been in touch with the state government and is about to meet MoS Harsh Sanghavi to understand the state’s aspirations and see where the UK can come in and support this process. We have done that for other countries. For example, we supported the Rio Olympics in Brazil and we have a lot of experience hosting multiple Olympic games, with the most recent one in 2012 being a game-changer for the UK. We will be on standby to help and support India in its olympicbid.Four universities from the UK — University of Southampton, Coventry University, Queen’s University Belfast, and the University of Surrey — have already been set up or are in the process of opening branches in Gujarat, especially in GIFT City. How do you see this from an investment perspective?Education is a big focus area for us. We always say that Indian students who come to study in the UK act as ambassadors for us. So when they come back and share their experiences, that is very important for us. We are also very proud of the scholarships we offer like the Chevening Scholarship. The British Council does a stellar job in promoting the UK’s academic strengths and advantages.We are seeing a steady change in investment post the National Education Policy (NEP) in India. British universities are interested in not just setting up campuses, but also exploring research collaborations, faculty exchange programmes and so on. The University of Southampton is opening a campus in Delhi-NCR some time this year. Discussions are being held for Gujarat and Karnataka too. British schools like Harrow’s school in Bangalore, Wellington school and a few others, are also showing interest in coming to India.Story continues below this adPlease share your views on GIFT City as a developing investment centre. Are more UK firms planning to come to GIFT City?I couldn’t visit GIFT City this time, but I will do so next time. But I think there are some ongoing discussions with a couple of universities going to GIFT City. Just like SEZs, GIFT City brings that advantage and I see a lot of interest from the financial sector. We will have to see how things pan out in the future.UK PM Keir Starmer has pledged stricter legal immigration measures. Meanwhile, reports suggest rounding up of illegal immigrants across the country. India accounts for the largest group of non-EU immigrants to the UK. How do you see this impacting trade relations?The UK has always been welcoming to visitors and immigrants who come through the proper channels for tourism, business or education. The visa team gave out nearly 9 lakh visas last year. What we are not happy about is illegal immigrants.Trade and immigration are separate areas. Business mobility, which refers to the temporary movement of businesspersons for specific purposes, features in trade negotiations, and supports professionals to deliver services in each other’s markets on a short-term and temporary basis. Business mobility commitments do not concern permanent migration, or permanent access to the UK’s labour market.India and the UK have been discussing an FTA for two years now. These talks are set to resume again. How do the tariff regimes, which are under threat from US President Donald Trump, affect these negotiations?I wouldn’t like to go into the intricacies of the FTA. The FTA discussions will begin next week and the negotiation teams will be dealing with it. Our Investment Minister Poppy Gustafsson will visit Mumbai and Bangalore for the NASSCOM leadership forum and then see how we can attract more investments. With all that happening and with FTA in the background, it’s all good news.Story continues below this adThere are US announcements, but we are talking about UK-India ties and it was agreed by the two PMs that FTA discussions will resume. The ministers will see to that. Trade deals are incredibly complex and require time and consideration from both sides. This is even more the case when a deal between two of the world’s biggest economies are struck. India is a top priority partner for the UK, and we want to elevate that ambition across all aspects of our relationship.