British PM May aims to boost trade ties with India during her visit

British Prime Minister Theresa May arrived in India on a three-day trade mission and will be looking to hammer out trade and immigration issues between London and New Delhi.

May is accompanied by a business delegation on her first bilateral visit outside Europe since assuming office.

She will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and review all aspects of the India-UK Strategic Partnership.

She will also attend a Joint Economic and Trade Committee meeting on the sidelines of her visit.

UK is among India's major trading partners and during the year 2014-15, UK ranked 18th in the list of India's top 25 trading partners.

As per data published by Department of Commerce, two-way merchandise trade during 2014-15 was USD 14.33 billion, marking a decrease of 9.39 percent as compared to 2013-14. UK's share in India's global trade has gone down from 2.07percent in 2013-14 to 1.89 percent in 2014-15.

India's main exports to the UK are garments and textiles, machinery and The British Prime Minister will also call on President Pranab Mukherjee. Prime Minister May and Prime Minister Modi will jointly inaugurate the India-UK jointly inaugurate the India UK Tech

Summit being organized by Department of Science and Technology and the Confederation of Indian Industry.

The summit will be an opportunity for both sides to strengthen business-to-business engagement in the areas of technology, entrepreneurship and innovation, design, IPRs and higher education.

The two sides had agreed to hold the summit during Prime Minister Modi's visit to the United Kingdom in November 2015.