In a bid to further strengthen relations with India, UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, foreign affairs minister William Hague, Chancellor George Osborne and minister of state for climate change Greg Barker will be visiting India from next week onwards.
They will hold meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, finance minister Arun Jaitley. While Hague and Osborne will be the first to arrive India and they will be followed by Clegg and Barker. These visits are prelude to the proposed India tour by the British Prime Minister David Cameron slated for September.
Sources in the know told Business Standard '' The menu for discussion will largely comprise UK's investment in India's defence sector, an early resolution of Vodafone dispute and BJP led government's move on retrospective legislation. Besides, the visiting UK ministers are also expected to discuss the Cairn's expansion plans in India.
The company intends to increase the oil output to 400,000 barrels per day from about 200,000 barrels per day. It is planning to drill 450 new wells in its fields in Rajasthan. Further, minister will seek details with regard to Modi government's policy on multi brand retail especially when Minister for commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman hinted that the government won't allow foreign players in multi brand retail."
The British High Commission's spokesperson declined to give the schedule for ensuing visits by UK ministers. However, the spokesperson referred to the statement made by Hague on June 17 in the British parliament on India visit. Hague had told the parliament that ''The Chancellor and I will visit India shortly to meet the new Government. Our priorities will be to expand trade and investment, enhance our education links, strengthen co-operation on defence and security, increase collaboration on science and innovation, and build our people-to-people links through the UK's 1.5 million Indian diaspora.''
Sources said Hague is likely to take up the discussion paper circulated by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion on allowing up to 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDA) in defence production. Sitharaman had recently said that government has to take a final call to hike FDI limit in the defence sector adding that it will be taken at the level of Modi and Jaitley.
Further, the Rs 13,200 crore standoff between tax department and Vodafone is also expected to dominate the ensuing talks. Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao had recently said he hopes an early resolution of the dispute and thereby restore the confidence among the investors. Besides, Hague and Osborne will make a strong case for an early decision on retrospective taxation to further boost the confidence of UK investors.
FICCI, whose delegation last week returned by the UK, in its wish list suggested that India needs to pitch for New Manufacturing Policy and the related National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs) with the British companies and urge them to set up base in India to cater to both the Indian market as well as export from India. Further, FICCI hopes that India and UK can explore information sharing and dissemination on nuclear safety, nuclear waste and radiation safety management.
According to FICCI, India can showcase progress in the Bangalore-Mumbai Economic Corridor and encourage investments by SMES from UK. UK has already shown interest with the offer to jointly conduct even a feasibility study on the Bangalore-Mumbai Economic Corridor project.
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