Modi plans UK visit next week to sign India trade deal

LONDON — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is getting ready to visit the U.K. as early as next week to sign his trade deal with Keir Starmer.

The trip would be the Indian PM’s first visit to the U.K. since 2018, marking the culmination of three years of trade talks.

The two countries, which are working to finalize the “legal scrubbing” of the text, reached a provisional deal in May under the shadow of Donald Trump’s trade war.

India’s Commerce Ministry has set the end of July as the deadline for officials to get the trade deal signed, a person briefed on the matter told POLITICO.

Two other people familiar with the developing plans, also granted anonymity to discuss preparations, said Starmer and Modi are expected to sign the deal in the U.K. before the month is out.

Modi is making a “flying visit to sign the FTA so the ratification process can begin,” one of those people said. Starmer had previously been eyeing a trip to India to sign the deal.

New Delhi officials have been briefing Indian media that the pact will be signed next week. Modi is expected in the Maldives on July 25 for the country’s Independence Day celebrations, with Indian officials planning a stopover in the U.K. on July 24 ahead of that visit.

Modi’s trip could be pushed until after he visits the Maldives if the legal scrubbing process takes longer.

The process has led to “some discomfort” on both sides of the pact, the person briefed on the process cited at the top said, adding the two sides “have worked to hammer out an issue regarding the coverage of taxation measures” under the deal, amongst others.

The deal will need to undergo Britain’s parliamentary scrutiny process and be reviewed by India’s Cabinet before it takes effect.

“We have been working with India on a landmark trade deal that will deliver for British people and business as part of our Plan for Change by adding £4.8 billion to the UK economy,” a U.K. government spokesperson said.