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Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
India has not compromised on data sharing under FTA with UK: Sunil Mittal
London: Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal on Tuesday reassured that the India-UK FTA does not compromise data protections, asserting that India has a "clear position" on securing its data provisions in every way. Bharti Enterprises Chairman said that the country is uniquely positioned to ensure secure data exchanges only with trusted partners. In an exclusive interview with ANI, Bharti Enterprises Chairman said, "In today's world, data movement is one of the most important issues in the trade, and services. And given India's advantage in digital connectivity now, which is not only at par with the world but perhaps in certain cases ahead of the world in its availability of data, the pricing, and the consumption patterns that you see, India has a very, very clear position." "India has a very, very clear position. It wants to exchange data only with trusted partners, trusted countries. And these kinds of FTAs help in establishing those relationships," he added. India's data localisation requirements, including the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, will ensure robust security for Indian data, Mittal said. Discussing Starlink's partnership with his company, Mittal addressed potential concerns about satellite internet in crisis scenarios, such as internet shutdowns in conflict zones like Manipur. He clarified that, should such disruptions occur, the Indian government would have the authority to order the shutdown of services from licensed operators. "They (Indian Government) will have to immediately make a request to the people who have been licensed (with Starlink) in India and they'll be duty bound to follow the law of the land, absolutely. I mean tomorrow, if we are operating OneWeb in India and if there are directions for us to shut the services, we will have no other recourse but to do that. I mean, you are operating under the license GMPCS (Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite) given by the DOT. So you have to stay within those norms," Mittal stated. The much-awaited landmark India-UK Free Trade Agreement was signed on Thursday, in the presence of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Keir Starmer, providing greater access to goods and services between the two countries. On May 6, Prime Minister Modi and his UK counterpart, Keir Starmer, announced the successful conclusion of a mutually beneficial India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The idea behind the trade deal is to eliminate or reduce tariffs on imports and exports between the two nations. This should make Indian products competitive in the UK and vice versa.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
'Will stimulate innovation, ease market access'
NEW DELHI: Industry hailed the India-UK trade pact, saying it will reduce barriers, enhance confidence and boost JVs and technology transfers. "This agreement establishes a forward-looking partnership that will stimulate innovation, ease market access, and foster investment. Businesses in India and the UK stand to gain, as it lays the groundwork for scaling up cooperation across key growth sectors," said Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Mittal. Shahi Exports MD Harish Ahuja, who leads Ficci's foreign trade & trade facilitation committee, added the agreement will boost India's export competitiveness, particularly in labour-intensive sectors including textiles and apparels. "Assocham believes the deal will not only boost export potential and manufacturing competitiveness, but also open new growth avenues in innovation & services," said industry body's chief Sanjay Nayar. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
NDTV
5 days ago
- Business
- NDTV
Such Deals Difficult To Achieve: Sunil Bharti Mittal To NDTV On India-UK Agreement
New Delhi: Free trade agreements are not easy to bring about and the one between India and the UK -- signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UK -- is a "historic moment" that will benefit both nations, Sunil Bharti Mittal, the Chairperson of Bharti Enterprises, has said. In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Mr Mittal, whose group has had a presence in the UK for over a decade, said this deal will not just benefit India's farmers, but her artisans, MSMEs and even professionals like doctors and lawyers. Why this deal worked out, he said, is a "high degree of complementarity" between India and the UK, unlike most cases where "what you want is what the other side resists and vice versa". "What did India give? A huge market. That is evident. Big talent pool. Very, very special ingredient today in the world. And then, of course, it has low-cost manufacturing availability. On the other hand, UK has technologies, especially high-tech ones on nuclear, space, on defence, biosciences," he said. This, he said, is where India can benefit by tying up with the British companies or British companies investing in India. It also allows UK access to India's small and medium industries -- leather, leather footwear, hand tools, machine tools, gems and jewellery. "There are lots of small, small things which are not made in the UK and are imported from China or other places, now get a leg up under this FTA. So you should start seeing the goods, which are currently at about $23 billion. The machine exports, $14 billion, could probably double from there," he said. All of this, he said, adds up to an "extremely high" complementarity -- "If you combine these two, it's a force multiplier," he added. The Free Trade agreement will also work well in favour of Indian professionals like doctors or lawyers who earlier had to get additional degrees or sit for exams if they wanted to practice in the UK, he said. "And equally, those people who are coming from here to India, because as you set up shops there from the British side, they will also need to send people. And recognizing the parity or creating a parity between the two sides on qualification will be helpful," Mr Mittal said. Chandrajeet Banerjee, the Director General of the Confederation of Indian Industry told NDTV that the FTA will also lead to free flow of talent, doing away with the earlier situation where visa proved a bottleneck. "The UK has limited professionals in many, many sectors. And their ability to service many companies, many industries which are investing into the UK would be limited given the lack of skills that are required in those sectors. So to that extent, I don't see that Indian companies would not be able to have their professionals being involved to grow in the UK, to bring in them," he said. "Mobility, again, has found a lot of mention in the trade agreement and it actually gets facilitated by this trade agreement and enhanced by this trade agreement," he added.
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Business Standard
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
FTA with UK adds strength to India's hand in other deals: Sunil Mittal
Soon after India and the United Kingdom (UK) signed the free trade agreement (FTA) on Thursday, industry leaders cheered the move. Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises and co-chair of the India-UK CEO Forum, and Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), who were in Chequers (near London) for the FTA signing as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's entourage, spoke to Nivedita Mookerji on the various aspects of the deal. Edited excerpts from a Zoom conversation: Who's the biggest winner in this FTA? Sunil Bharti Mittal (SBM): It's a win win for both sides with a balanced outcome after a very long and hard negotiation…. I think you will now see a lot of British companies getting much more confident about investing in India, working in India, setting up their bases in our country. The Prime Minister spoke today of taking the bilateral trade from $56 billion to $112 billion in five years—It's an ambitious target, but achievable, given the way this FTA has been set up. So I would say it's hard for FTAs to be agreed. Your 'asks' and their 'gives', their 'asks' and our 'gives'--there's always a resistance on both sides…. But over here, you don't see any major resistance, finally, because both have come to an agreement which is balanced. Chandrajit Banerjee (CB): There are many sectors from the Indian side which will benefit. From both manufacturing as well as services. But if you see some of the critical sectors, like textiles and apparels, that opens up a huge market. In the pharma sector also, we are getting huge opportunities. The small and the mid size companies across the engineering area as well as auto components will also gain. Plus, the labour intensive sectors like leather and footwear will benefit due to the increased access to the UK market. Will there be a ripple effect of the UK agreement on the US deal that is in the works? SBM: I think closing of this deal is important for India. It does add strength to India's hand. But the US is altogether different. It's the largest market in the world,… It's good to have this one out of the way. Now you will have one less trade deal to work on and the negotiators will be able to concentrate more on the next one. The one with the EU is expected to be done in the next few weeks or months. As for the US, some interim deal should be done. It's easy for you and I to discuss it here, but there are new developments in the US on a daily basis. CB: In some ways, the UK FTA is a signal to the world that India has been entering into large number of trade agreements with different countries, both in the eastern hemisphere and now in the western hemisphere, and the Indian industry is competitive. It also shows that India provides not just opportunities to companies to come and participate in the Indian economy in terms of investments, but our companies themselves are investing strongly in other economies…. So, this is indicative of balance of power. Mr Mittal, there's a full chapter on telecom in the deal. Any significance? SBM: Well, I'm delighted to see that chapter, as you can imagine. Both countries will be having open doors for telecom in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI). As you know, Vodafone had 100 per cent in India…. What the FTA will do is to take the agreed position to a hard wired position. Do you think this deal will help in the making of global brands? Hasn't that been a gap for the Indian industry? SBM: I would say yes…. You have to have large corporations first, and then you go global. That's been the norm world over. And the western world has had that privilege for decades, because they became rich much before us. I think India is on that path now, and you will start to see Indian MNCs emerging on the global stage. Tatas have already been there with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and others. I think we can count ourselves (Airtel) as that. There are a few other companies which are on that path to some extent--Godrej, Mahindras, for example. For your group, what does this deal mean? SBM: It validates what we've been doing for so many years in sectors such as telecom, real estate and hospitality. We also have the satellite deal—OneWeb--with the British government. So this just strengthens our hand to do more between the two countries. Perhaps, we can pick up some technologies here that we can take back to India and use the technology back home in the Indian market, which is much bigger. We remain agile. We are looking at opportunities. But today, I stand in front of you as the co-chair of the Indian business leaders' delegation, the CEO forum, and my job is to work on the larger piece. In this capacity, I have to see that Indian industry and the British business leadership can combine their minds to take our trade to the level that has been set by the two partners. What are your thoughts on utilisation of trade deals? In many cases, we've seen that we are not able to utilise the deals that are signed. How can the industry help? SBM: This is a rare opportunity where both sides can gain from combining strengths of each other. There's high degree of complementarity between the two nations. And that really makes a very strong, powerful platform, or a bridge, if I may say, between the two countries. You're right that not all trade deals result in tremendous amount of uptick in trade and services or investment. I think this is different. In this case, I feel in the first year itself, as soon as this treaty is ratified, we will see the direction of trade going up in the upwards trajectory. CB: This trade agreement is designed to work for both countries, be it for bilateral investment or bilateral trade. Whether it's small or mid-sized companies, technology, education or anything else, we (India-UK business forum) can form different groups and see to it that we are able to identify the enablers. So there should be possibilities of constructive ways of working towards taking advantage of this trade agreement. Is there anything in this FTA that you think could have been done better? Any gaps? SBM: Well, there's always something that one feels could have been better. Some parts of the industry may feel that certain things could have been better handled. But by and large, I don't think there is any reason to complain. There may be somebody unhappy out there, but, you know, in a trade deal of this nature, it is rare to get to a win win situation like the one we are seeing in this one. What is the overall mood of the industry? SBM: Very good. Industry is very upbeat. CB: I think what we have seen is an amazing partnership between the government and the industry. I think that collaborative framework is going to be a key factor as we move ahead, when industry is taken along and consulted. That collaboration should work to see that FTAs are working in a win win way.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
UK deal will set roadmap for talks with EU, but US a different ballgame: Sunil Bharti Mittal
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal , who co-chairs the India-UK CEO Forum and is leading a 16-member industry delegation accompanying Prime minister Narendra Modi to London for signing the trade detail, tells Romit Guha and Deepshikha Sikarwar that it is time for Indian industry to step up its game in the UK. Edited excerpts:This is the first real pact signed between two large nations where the economies are of a similar size, $3.5 trillion. It is a Western world economy and has a number of technologies which are very useful right out. The Indian market is very important for UK companies and equally, India needs to step up its game in the so far the trade between the two countries was $56 billion, which makes it a fairly large trading partner, the ambition of both our Prime Ministers is to more than double this in less than five years. So, taking it to $120 billion dollars by 2030 is an ambitious have gained a three-year exemption on social security payments. I believe the estimates are about Rs 4,000 crore of savings for the Indian a win-win for both sides. I hope the investments will step up in India we don't have blockages like in the 70s and 80s when imports were restricted. Everything is open for imports. The question is really on tariffs. Tariffs between India and the UK were not that high. The UK is a sizable market with (a population of) 65 million. India is a continent of 1.5 billion people. This is the kind of market that any Western world would be happy to access on favourable terms. And this is what the UK gets. But in turn, what do they need to do? Set up more factories, more manufacturing in India, step up investments, maybe do some acquisitions, because in the UK, manufacturing is not as competitive as it is in India. Equally, there is a pool of talent available in India, in Indian companies, they can now come and acquire companies in the UK. There are a lot of gems sitting out here. They have been weak in their valuations because of low local demand. And now bridge it with India. And you're seeing TVS Motor coming and buying; we have come and made some investments here. Tata's Jaguar Land Rover is sending cars to India now. It will now become better for them to send at a lower duty. I would say this is a really well-crafted trade I would say the high-tech area, especially defence — hypersonic missiles, UAVs, drones, these technologies that are in the UK at a very advanced level. The UK is a very advanced Western defence manufacturing nation, whether it's fighter jets or UAVs. It has a lot of technology sitting here, which India will have access to now. We can expect deeper cooperation, different partnerships, including hopefully in the area of is SME, which is at the other end of the spectrum. We had leather, leather footwear, handicrafts and small hand tools, machine tools, and small automobile parts which are required in the UK. All these in India will now get access into the UK market on a preferential basis at very low or almost nil duties. We have also successfully protected certain sensitive sectors, for example has done quite a few FTAs — with the European Free Trade Association, Australia, the United Arab Emirates. The trade deal with the UK to my mind is the first big western one, and this will set the roadmap for talks with the European Union. I hope that in the coming weeks and months, the EU will start to take US is altogether a different ballgame. The Indian government is keenly negotiating various issues that are coming up there. It is not an easy task to have a free trade agreement or a comprehensive trade agreement with a large market like the US, which can not only take a lot of things from you, but also send a lot of things back into your country. So, one will have to take a balanced approach, a more nuanced approach. But I think there seems to be an urgency. But I think all these agreements, like the UK, will add to India's are in a new world. Even in the first term of Donald Trump, we could see multilateralism getting weakened. And, in the second term, much more of that. I don't know how much relevance the WTO will have. But it seems more and more, bilateralism is going to become fashionable.I have had the privilege of working on some back channels for this deal as well. Our investments in the UK help us have a voice on the table. We have big investments in the hospitality, real estate sectors, British Telecom, which is an iconic British company and, of course, OneWeb. We remain pretty agile in the UK market and we look for opportunities in growing our investments in key we are inside BT now. We are the single largest shareholder with 25%. My relationship with the chairman and CEO and some of the board members is outstanding. We work with them, we have given them a number of suggestions, which they like. They had visited India with a big delegation to see how we operate.I think there are lots of things that BT can pick up from Airtel in India. But, equally, we are also seeing some of the stuff that they are doing. For example, in open ridge, the way they do the trenching, the connections they have at homes. So, this is going to be a nice cooperation between the two companies where the bridge is Bharti Enterprises, which has a controlling stake in Airtel in India and an influential stake in BT.
