The Beast has been prowling the streets of London, and Donald Trump is waxing lyrical about the US and UK’s ‘eternal friendship’. In the wake of Trump’s state visit to the UK, we must also not forget about the UK’s equally special and enduring relationship with India.
For all of Trump’s talk about everything being on the table when it comes to a post-Brexit trade deal, let’s take a moment to remember his very recent history of shutting down trade deals. The US President has ended India’s preferential trading status and professed his belief that Britain can have a ‘very very substantial trade deal’ all within the space of one week. While one hand gives, the other one takes away.
What Trump hasn’t realised, in his quick decision to end his deal with India, is that it could have been a winning partnership for him and the US. All you need to do is look to the relationship – and indeed respectful friendship – between the UK and India to see how this is working in action.
A little over a year ago, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the UK as part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. This visit strengthened the foundations of a prosperous and mutually-beneficial partnership, with the UK-India Tech Partnership and India-UK Trade Partnership forming integral components of its legacy. A year on from Modi’s visit, bilateral trade between the UK and India has grown by 14%, and revenues from Indian companies operating in the UK have increased by £1.6 billion since 2018.
The UK and India’s fortunes do not necessarily mirror each other – but the two nations are dedicated to each other in the face of this. At the end of May, we witnessed two polar opposite headlines from the manufacturing industry.
The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index revealed that India’s manufacturing sector expanded at its quickest pace in three months, with many attributing the renewed optimism to Modi’s landslide victory in the recent elections.
Meanwhile, national headlines in the UK painted a dismal picture, announcing that its manufacturing sector had shrunk for the first time in three years amidst Brexit-fuelled uncertainty.
Despite this, Indian business and manufacturing leaders are still committed to supporting their UK counterparts – a significant number of these leaders will descend upon London during the upcoming UK-India Week 2019 to consolidate relationships and drive forward collaboration between the two nations. The number of Indian companies operating in the UK has grown from 796 to 842 over the past year, according to Grant Thornton’s 2019 India meets Britain Tracker. The UK’s talent sector has hugely benefitted as Indian workers continue to receive more skilled work visas than the rest of the world combined.
Beyond business, the democracies of India and the UK are closely entwined through their shared ties spanning culture, global outlook and sports, amongst other endeavours. In the 2011 UK census, India was the most common country of birth for non-UK born residents. The Cricket World Cup will enrapture and engage a vast audience. In 2017, the UK hosted the India Year of Culture, with the British Arts Council investing more than £2.5 million in collaborations between England and India.
There is so much to be won for both the UK and India within this relationship. India has proven tirelessly through its committed and collaborative stance, that Brexit or no Brexit, they are backing the UK and are respectful of its democratic independence. In the midst of political uncertainty, a leadership contest and endless Brexit negotiations, the UK cannot afford to take its eye off the ball when it comes to its thriving partnership with India, and unlike the US – it won’t.
As Brexit looms on the horizon, the UK needs to focus on curating key relationships and partnerships beyond the EU. The ‘special relationship’ that Churchill talked of in 1946 is no more, but for those who mourn its loss, find comfort in a global era that embraces several new prosperous partnerships. Each relationship fosters something unique, and India’s relationship with the UK demonstrates this time and time again.
Despite recent tensions, the US is still India’s second-largest trading partner. India exported approximately $54 billion worth of goods to the US in 2018. Simultaneously, India’s 1.3 billion population is a crucial and growing market for the US. Their trading future is bright if both can negotiate intelligently and capitalise upon their shared values in the long-term – creating another winning partnership.
Manoj Ladwa is the CEO of India Inc. and a former communications adviser to Narendra Modi.