Business
India-UK FTA: Pact to cut tariffs and strengthen business confidence; what British Parliament was told – The Times of India
The India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed on July 24 by Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Keir Starmer will cut trade tariffs from 15% to 3% and is expected to bolster business confidence in a volatile global environment, British MPs were told on Monday.UK Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds briefed the House of Commons on the pre-ratification process for the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), highlighting its potential impact ahead of full implementation, PTI reported.“This agreement drops the average Indian tariff on UK products from 15% to 3%, with duties falling by around £400 million at entry, rising to £900 million after staging,” Reynolds said. “It is expected to increase bilateral trade by £25.5 billion, raise UK GDP by £4.8 billion, and boost wages by £2.2 billion annually. In an increasingly unstable world, this deal provides businesses with confidence as they grow and expand.”The FTA secures preferential access to India’s federal procurement market, guarantees opportunities for UK service suppliers, and simplifies trade through improved customs and digital processes, Reynolds added. Specific regional gains include £190 million for the West Midlands and Scotland and £210 million for the North West, supporting the UK’s high-growth sectors.Reynolds also informed MPs about the commissioning of the Trade and Agriculture Commission, the Food Standards Agency, and Food Standards Scotland, whose reports under Section 42 of the Agriculture Act 2020 are needed before Parliament can ratify the agreement.Parallel negotiations on the Double Contribution Convention, agreed alongside the FTA to prevent temporary foreign workers from duplicating social security contributions, will also follow the standard parliamentary process.The India-UK CETA, signed during Modi’s UK visit, aims to double bilateral trade to $120 billion by 2030. While implementation in India requires only Cabinet approval, ratification in the UK is expected to take up to a year. In the House of Lords, junior minister Baroness Maggie Jones briefed peers on the progress of the FTA.
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“Amazon to date has invested USD 40 billion in India since 2010. Now we will invest another USD 35 billion by 2030 across all our businesses in India,” Agarwal said.
Amazon To Invest USD 35 Bn In India By 2030 With Focus On AI-Driven Digitalisation
E-commerce giant Amazon is set to invest a mega-investment of USD 35 billion, over Rs 3.14 lakh crore, in India by 2030 across its businesses with a focus on AI-driven digitisation, export growth and job creation, a senior company official said on Wednesday.
Senior VP Emerging Markets, Amit Agarwal, made the announcement during the Amazon Smbhav Summit, saying the company has set a target to quadruple exports from India to USD 80 billion from about USD 20 billion.
“Amazon to date has invested USD 40 billion in India since 2010. Now we will invest another USD 35 billion by 2030 across all our businesses in India,” Agarwal said.
Amazon’s investment plan is two times of Microsoft’s investment plan of USD 17.5 billion and close to 2.3 times that of Google’s USD 15 billion investment plan by 2030.
With this investment, Amazon will become the largest foreign investor in India, according to a Keystone report compiled from publicly available data.
In May 2023, Amazon announced plans to invest USD 12.7 billion in India by 2030 into its local cloud and AI infrastructure across Telangana and Maharashtra. The company has already invested USD 3.7 billion in India between 2016 and 2022.
The company has invested at scale towards building physical and digital infrastructure, including fulfilment centres, transportation networks, data centres, digital payments infrastructure and technology development.
According to the Keystone report, Amazon has digitized over 12 million small businesses and enabled USD 20 billion in cumulative ecommerce exports, while supporting approximately 2.8 million direct, indirect, induced and seasonal jobs across industries in India in 2024.
(With inputs from agencies)
Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google. December 10, 2025, 10:58 IST
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Business
Stock market today: Nifty50 opens above 25,850; BSE Sensex up over 100 points – The Times of India
Stock market today: Nifty50 and BSE Sensex, the Indian equity benchmark indices, opened in green on Wednesday. While Nifty50 was above 25,850, BSE Sensex was up over 100 points. At 9:17 AM, Nifty50 was trading at 25,865.25, up 26 points or 0.099%. BSE Sensex was at 84,804.28, up 138 points.Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited says, “As the year slowly draws to a close the market structure is becoming challenging. Heavy selling in the broader market is justified since valuations have been elevated and kept high only on the strength of liquidity. This is unsustainable. But the weakness in the overall market and sustained selling by FIIs are a bit disappointing. A major concern is the excessive delay in the finalisation of the US-India trade deal. A remark by President Trump yesterday that action should be taken on India for dumping rice in the US hurt sentiments further.”“Fundamentals are turning in favour of India. Higher growth and corporate earnings are achievable in the quarters ahead. The fiscal and monetary stimulus provided this year have started producing results. The excessively low inflation rate, which impacted nominal GDP growth, also will start rising in the coming quarters. This is significant since corporate earnings growth will be influenced more by nominal GDP growth rather than by real GDP growth. The fact that valuations in the large cap segment have become fair is another positive. These positive factors will start weighing on the market soon. Investors have to keep faith and wait patiently for the fundamentals to play out.”The S&P 500 declined on Tuesday as investors anticipated hawkish Federal Reserve messaging despite potential rate cuts. JPMorgan contributed significantly to the benchmark index’s decline following the bank’s announcement of substantial 2026 expenses.Asian markets showed modest gains following Wall Street’s subdued session, with investors awaiting the Federal Reserve’s final interest rate decision of the year.Foreign portfolio investors recorded net sales of Rs 3,760 crore on Tuesday, whilst domestic institutional investors showed net purchases of Rs 6,225 crore.(Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market, other asset classes or personal finance management tips given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)
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