UK businesses accelerate India expansion plans post-FTA: Report

Several UK businesses see the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India as a "game-changer" as they accelerate expansion plans and a majority of firms without a presence move to enter the market, according to a new report.

According to Grant Thornton's latest ‘International Business Report' (IBR) analysis from last week, 72 per cent of UK firms now identify India as a key market for international growth, up from 61 per cent last year, signalling India's "shift to the centre of global strategy conversations".

The India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's UK visit in July, is expected to significantly enhance the 44.1-billion-pound bilateral trading partnership once it is ratified by the British Parliament in the coming months.