India is conscious as is rest of the world that Brexit has a induced a degree of uncertainty in terms of legal braces for forward trade and investment linkages, said Rita Teaotia, Secretary, Ministry of Commerce.

Teaotia was addressing a seminar on Brexit: Prospects of India – UK FTA organized in the national capital today. The Seminar was jointly organized by the Trade Competitiveness Section, Commonwealth Secretariat and the Centre for WTO Studies, IIFT in partnership with FICCI and FISME.

Teaotia said, “We are not clear at this point of time and neither the UK as what will their relationship be with the EU, with the WTO and rest of their trading partners. And much of what we will do in future will hinge on the way this emerges and the way it is shaped.”

“The deepening of the relationship between India and UK is possible even without a formal trade agreement. Never the less, our trade with the EU is significant. India’s export to EU and to UK have increased over the last one or two decade. Never the less, they are progressively a much smaller part of our total trade with the world and this is reflected both in our imports and exports,” she highlighted.

During the Seminar, a paper titled “Brexit: Opportunities for India” was presented by Dr. Rashmi Banga, Head, Trade Competitiveness, Commonwealth Secretariat.

According to a study conducted by Commonwealth Secretariat on India’s Global Value Chains: Integrating LDCs, India has the competitiveness to form GVCs in 35 products that could sell in 50 markets and this would boost India’s exports by USD 23 billion.

In the UK, the potential exports could increase by USD 3.1 billion from USD 1.3 billion and in the EU, the exports of these products have the potential to increase by USD 1.2 billion from a mere USD 700 million, the paper added.

Dr Banga said a well negotiated FTA can provide Indian exporters a great access to the UK.

She also spoke about the India’s Commonwealth SME Association (ICSA) launched earlier this year. ICSA, a joint initiative of industry body FISME and Commonwealth Secretariat, London, would provide a sustainable platform to the SMEs in the Lesser Developed Countries (LDCs) and the region in order to source inputs for their lead products.

Anup Wadhawan, Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, said, “Once the terms of the exit if known, the outcome will be more clear. We have to look at Brexit as an opportunity for both India and UK.”

Anil Bhardwaj, Secretary General, FISME, said, “Brexit has shifted the focus towards the commonwealth countries. People are now looking at the Commonwealth Countries for future potential areas.”

He said that London can play an important role in financing the infrastructure projects in India.

Bhardwaj said to become increase export competitiveness, it is important to increase import competitiveness as well.

Some of the issues that were deliberated upon in depth in the seminar include: can an India–UK trade and investment agreement help in deepening this relationship or will the roadblocks in India-EU BTIA persist in this FTA as well; what opportunities can arise for Indian exporters in the post-Brexit phase in the UK; what are the challenges that India may face in renewing its economic relationship with UK.

Participants in the seminar included officers from the Government of India, representatives from trade bodies, apex chambers of commerce and industry from India and UK, media and academia. (KNN Bureau)