PM Modi likely to visit UK next week to sign trade deal

By Shruti Srivastava

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit the UK next week to sign the recent trade deal between the two countries, a government official told reporters in New Delhi.

The deal could likely take about a year to become effective, the official said on condition of anonymity because the details are not yet public.

India and the UK agreed to the landmark trade deal in May, slashing tariffs on cosmetics, vehicles, alcoholic beverages and other goods, as both sides look to minimise potential disruption from President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies.

The deal, expected to expand a £42.6 billion trading relationship between the two countries, would be the UK’s biggest such agreement since Brexit and India’s first with a European economy.

Earlier, UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer had accepted Modi’s invitation to visit India at the “earliest opportunity” to sign the pact, which was under discussion for more than three years under four British prime ministers.