India and the UK have enjoyed close and warm relations; however, economic
interest has fallen short of the potential. The global economic crisis presents a
temporary challenge to increasing economic exchange. India’s GDP is projected to
fall to 6% from earlier 9% trend [RBI], while UK is expected to contract by -4.1% in
2009 [IMF].
A new strategic direction is needed to boost bilateral economic cooperation. The
recovery period can be used to set in place substantive institutional arrangements to
encourage this process. Services trade can be a special area of focus, but will need
liberalisation of services sector in India and easier movement of personnel in UK.