Brexit gives India the break to hunt for new opportunities in UK

NEW DELHI: Can Brexit open up new areas of opportunity for India and the UK? While it might still be too early to predict how things will pan out between India and the United Kingdom, they don’t look as bleak for India as they do for the EU.
In fact, if UKIP (UK Independent Party) leader Nigel Farage is anyone to go by, Indians might find the UK more welcoming . In a recent interview he was quoted as saying, “I have to confess I do have a slight preference.I do think, naturally, that people from India and Australia are in some ways more likely to speak English, understand common law and have a connection with this country than some people that come perhaps from countries that haven’t fully recovered from being behind the Iron Curtain.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told a press conference in London last year that India considered the UK to be a gateway to Europe, indicating his preference for the ‘Remain’ camp. But the ‘Leave’ verdict could give India, the third largest investor in the UK, greater operating room in a country with which India has shared a historically warm relationship.
Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta is among those who believe that India should utilise the opportunity to forge a more meaningful partnership with Britain. “It was a vote against an uncaring super state and uber cosmopolitanism. Yet, Brexit offers great opportunities to engage with a UK that is bound to become economically more free. If India gets into the act without delay, it may be possible to negotiate a mutually beneficial FTA that had become impossible under the EU. The UK can remain India's foremost trading outpost in the West. Brexit signals new opportunities for India and Indians.”
India’s official reaction, however, was much more guarded and cautious. An external affairs ministry spokesperson said, “We value our multifaceted relationships with both the UK and the EU and will strive to further strengthen these ties in the years ahead.”
Brexit will undoubtedly have huge implications for the EU project and nobody can say for certain if London will retain its position as the premier financial capital. Author Patrick French believes the Brexit vote “is the most significant change to British power projection since Suez in 1956. I don’t think it makes a great difference for Indian companies, except in as far as Brexit diminishes the power of London as the world’s financial capital. A continued fall of sterling gives opportunities to Indian investors.”
During Modi’s last visit to Switzerland, India announced it would restart negotiations for a free trade agreement with EFTA (a parallel European group of four countries, including Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway). After Brexit, it’s possible for the UK to join forces with the EFTA.
But there are some genuine worries also. What if Indian companies relocate to a country like, say, Ireland, as the new gateway to the EU? That might cloud bilateral economic prospects which currently give India a position of some importance in the UK as evidenced by the British government’s decision to intervene with labour unions after Tata Steel announced its exit.