India and the UK on Thursday announced two defence deals worth over $ 800 million as they took steps for further collaboration in education, clean energy, artificial intelligence and critical minerals.
At the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Mumbai, the leaders also unveiled the agreement to proceed via government-to-government route on an initial supply of Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM) systems to India.
Major Defence Pacts
In parallel, Graphcore, the British chip designer owned by SoftBank Group Corp, said in a blog post that it will invest £1 billion ($1.3 billion) to build out infrastructure in India over the next decade, including a new research hub. Graphcore, which is based in Bristol, plans to open the research facility in Bengaluru that will create 500 jobs, the company said.
While AI infrastructure is still in early stages, the first made-in-India chips are to hit markets by year-end, with less-advanced products.
The government has set up a Rs 76,000 crore fund to attract international chipmakers. Two of the country’s biggest projects include an $11 billion wafer fabrication site by Tata Group in partnership with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. and a roughly $3 billion assembly and testing facility by US-based Micron Technology Inc.
The size of one of the defence procurement deal is 350 million pounds or $ 470 million, according to a statement by the UK’s Ministry of Defence. The second deal is for cooperation between the two countries on electric powered engines for naval ships worth an initial 250 million pounds or $ 335 million.
“We have signed an agreement for cooperation in military training, under which Flying Instructors from the Indian Air Force will serve as trainers with the UK’s Royal Air Force, ” Modi said during a joint press conference with Starmer.
UK Universities to establish nine new campuses in India
Another highlight of the two-day visit of Starmer was the announcement on the setting of campuses of nine universities from UK’s in India. The campus of University of Southampton is already operational.
The University Grants Commission has also handed over Letters of Intent (LoI) for establishment of branch campuses of University of Liverpool, University of York, University of Aberdeen and University of Bristol in India.
Further, Queens University of Belfast and Coventry University have been authorised to open their branch campuses in GIFT City. During the visit, Indian authorities also handed over the LoI for opening of campus of Lancaster University in Bengaluru and accorded in-principle approval for opening campus of University of Surrey in GIFT City.
“I’m really pleased that we’re announcing today that all British universities will be setting up campuses right here in India, making Britain India’s leading international provider of higher education,” Starmer said in his statement to the media after the meetings with Modi. Meetings were held in a restricted mode and at the delegation level.
“The UK’s world-leading higher education sector is set to bring in a £50 million boost to the economy as part of a major expansion of British universities in India,” a statement from Starmer’s office said.
India and the UK also announced a new joint investment in the Climate Tech Start-up Fund. This strategic initiative, under the MoU between the UK Government and State Bank of India, will enhance support for innovative entrepreneurs working in frontier sectors such as climate technology and AI, driving innovation and fostering growth.
A large part of the visit was devoted to the discussions on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the two countries in July. “Both leaders looked forward to the ratification of the CETA as early as possible to realise its benefits,” a joint statement after the meetings between the two Prime Ministers said.
Pending the ratification, the businessmen and government leaders would be holding meetings to identify regional and sectoral issues that are also barriers to trade over the next 4-6 months, foreign secretary Vikram Misri said at a press briefing on the visit.
To aid with the full realisation of the benefits of the trade agreement and drive the wider trade and investment partnership it was agreed to re-set Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO).
The terms of reference for re-setting JETCO were signed by commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal and UK’s secretary of state for business and trade Peter Kyle.
In his two-day visit that concluded on Thursday, Starmer also addressed the reconstituted India-UK CEO Forum and Global Fintech Fest.