Your Excellency, Prime Minister Starmer,

Business leaders of India and the UK,

Namaskar!

It gives me great pleasure to participate in today’s meeting of the India–UK CEOs Forum. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Prime Minister Starmer for his valuable thoughts.

In recent years, this Forum has emerged as an important pillar of the India–UK Strategic Partnership through your continuous efforts as business leaders. After hearing your views today, my confidence has deepened even further that we will move ahead with even greater speed as natural partners. I wholeheartedly congratulate all of you for this.

Friends,

Amid the current global instability, this year has been remarkable. It has strengthened the stability of Bharat–UK relations. During my visit to the UK this July, we signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). I sincerely appreciate and congratulate my friend, Prime Minister Starmer, for his commitment and vision for this historic achievement. This is not merely a trade agreement, it is a roadmap for shared progress, shared prosperity, and shared people-to-people connections between two of the world’s major economies. Along with market access, this agreement will also empower MSMEs in both countries and open new avenues of employment for millions of young people.

Friends,

To help CETA achieve its full potential, I would like to present before you four new dimensions of this partnership. These dimensions will perhaps give it a much broader base:

C stands for Commerce & Economy

E stands for Education & People-to-People Ties

T stands for Technology & Innovation

A stands for Aspirations

Today, our bilateral trade stands at around 56 billion dollars. We have set a goal to double it by 2030, and I am confident that we can achieve this target ahead of time.

Friends,

Today, Bharat offers policy stability, predictable regulation, and large-scale demand. In this environment, there are unprecedented opportunities in every sector, including infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, energy, and finance. It is also heartening to note that nine UK universities are soon going to open campuses in Bharat. In the near future, academia–industry partnerships will become the biggest driving force of our innovation economy.

Friends,

Today, countless new possibilities for cooperation are emerging between us in fields like telecom, AI, biotech, quantum technology, semiconductors, cyber, and space. In the defence sector, too, we are moving towards co-design and co-production. Now is the time to turn all these possibilities into concrete collaborations with speed and determination. We must move forward in a structured and coordinated way in strategic sectors such as critical minerals, rare earths, and APIs. This will give our partnership a futuristic direction.

Friends,

You have all witnessed Bharat’s strength in the FinTech sector. Today, about 50% of the world’s real-time digital transactions take place in Bharat. By combining the UK’s expertise in financial services with Bharat’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), we can create immense benefits for all of humanity.

Friends,

Prime Minister Starmer and I announced Vision 2035 to infuse new energy into our relationship.  This is a blueprint of our shared ambitions. Between open and democratic societies like Bharat and the UK, there is no area in which cooperation cannot grow. Bharat’s talent and scale, combined with the UK’s R&D and expertise, form a partnership capable of delivering transformative results. Your support and collaboration are crucial in realizing these aspirations and ambitions in a targeted and time-bound manner.

Friends,

Many of your companies are already present in Bharat. Today, Bharat’s economy is undergoing broad reforms, with a strong focus on ease of doing business by reducing unnecessary compliances. Recently, we announced GST reforms, which will further strengthen the growth story of our middle class and MSMEs, while creating new opportunities for all of you.

Friends,

Infrastructure development remains a top priority for us. We are investing in next-generation physical infrastructure and are moving rapidly towards achieving our goal of 500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030. I am pleased to share that we are opening up the nuclear power sector to private participation. All these developments are creating new avenues for Bharat–UK collaboration to reach even greater heights. I invite you to join Bharat’s development journey. I believe Indian and UK business leaders can together identify sectors where we can jointly become global leaders whether it is FinTech, Green Hydrogen, Semiconductors, or Start-ups. There can be many more such areas. Let India and the UK set global benchmarks together!

Once again, thank you all very much for taking the time to be here today.

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MJPS/VJ/VK