The deal aims to cut through high tariffs on U.K. goods in India with 85 percent becoming tariff-free within a decade. The effect will be equivalent to slashing £1 billion in tariffs after 10 years.
Measures include immediately slashing India’s 150 percent tariff on Scotch whisky in half before it is cut to 40 percent after ten years. Duties on the auto sector will drop from 100 percent to 10 percent with quotas on both sides for the sensitive sector.
Indian duties will also be lowered on cosmetics, aerospace, medical devices, electrical machinery and agriculture and food. Britain will lower tariffs on textiles, footwear, frozen prawns and other food products.
While U.K. negotiators resisted granting more visas for Indian students studying in the U.K., the Indian side has talked up an ““unprecedented” win on its workers being exempt from employee tax contributions in Britain — triggering some pushback from U.K. opposition parties.
The official text of the agreement has not yet been published and will only be delivered to parliaments in both countries once Starmer and Modi sign the pact.
Indian officials have said the deal is currently undergoing legal scrubbing so that it can be signed within three months of its agreement, which took place on May 6.
Downing Street declined to comment.
