From Wimbledon towels to Scotch: what the India-UK trade deal means for shoppers
Image: BBC News
In the offices of Welspun Living — the Indian firm that makes the championship towels for Wimbledon — preparations have been gathering pace to cash in on the India-UK free trade agreement that came into force this week.
The home-textile giant supplies bedsheets and towels to British high-street names like John Lewis and Tesco. "Many of these brands have been in India in recent weeks to chart a business roadmap," CEO Dipali Goenka says — and her supply-chain team in London is, as we speak, sitting inside the John Lewis office.
The deal between the world's fifth- and sixth-largest economies removes or cuts tariffs on 99% of Indian exports to the UK and 90% of British imports into India. The UK government calls it its biggest and most economically significant bilateral trade pact since Brexit.
Why it matters: For shoppers, the mechanics are simple — lower tariffs should mean lower prices on a swathe of goods, from clothing and footwear to cars and, yes, Scotch whisky. The UK estimates a long-run GDP bump of about £4.8bn ($6.4bn); India's, around £5.1bn a year.
For Indian manufacturers, the change is immediate. Goenka notes India had been at a disadvantage to Bangladesh and Pakistan, whose goods entered the UK duty-free while India paid 12% tariffs. "In home textiles, Pakistan's share of UK exports is around 55%, India's just 6-7% — that's the gap we can finally cover," she says, predicting double-digit export growth.
Labour-heavy sectors — textiles, garments, footwear, cars and marine products — are counting on the agreement to spur hiring and expansion on both sides.
What's next: As tariffs fall away, the real test is whether the promised price cuts reach the shelf — and whether the deal becomes the template for a wider web of post-Brexit trade pacts.