'India's plan to introduce GST will boost Indo-UK trade'

India's plans to open up its defence and insurance markets and roll out GST are "highly desirable" and will boost bilateral trade between the UK and India, according to the British government.
"India's plans to open up its defence and insurance markets and the goods and services tax (GST) to create a single market are highly desirable and will indeed serve to create wealth and jobs and increase the quantum of British Indian trade," British Government's Minister of State for Trade and Investment Lord Francis Maude of Horsham said at a conference to announce the opening of the India-UK Business Convention here.

"The British government very strongly supports... It is committed to strengthening and deepening the relationship between Britain and India. We see this not as a typical relationship, but as a genuine partnership," he said.
The Sterling Assets India report was also unveiled at the conference.
The report, produced by the Confederation of British Industry, PwC UK, and the UK India Business Council, found that between 2000 and 2015, the UK invested USD 22.2 billion in India, 9 per cent of all foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country.
This makes the UK the largest G20 investor, outpacing the US and Japan, and substantially ahead of all other nations.

Citing the findings of the report, Maude said: "Over the past few years, British companies have been the biggest investors in India. They have invested more in India than the whole of the rest of the EU combined.

"One in 20 of the total organised private sector jobs in India are employed through British companies. The study also discovered that British companies in India spend more than twice the Indian government's requirement of corporate social responsibility. They spend an average 7 per cent of their turnover on training and re-skilling their employees in India."
The report found that between 200 and 2015, investments directly from the UK contributed 9 per cent of the total FDI into India, pegged at USD 22.2 billion, substantially higher than any other G20 investor and ahead of the US, Japan and Germany.

"A total of around 1.96 million jobs are estimated to have been created by foreign investment, and of these, 7 per cent are supported by British investments," it said.
"British companies generated 1,37,000 jobs. It represents nearly 7 per cent of 1.96 million jobs generated by FDI in India."
Over 600 delegates, international business leaders, and senior ministers from the UK and India are participating in the largest-ever India-UK Business convention being held here between September 10-12.