WIREDGOV

Economic Secretary embarks on a tour of India to establish closer ties with the world's fastest growing major economy.

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Harriett Baldwin, has embarked on a four-day tour of India, accompanying Alok Sharma, the Prime Minister’s Infrastructure Envoy to India. The tour is a key part of the government’s long-term plan to establish closer ties and deepen financial cooperation between Britain and India, the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

While on the visit the City Minister will meet with key public sector and business leaders, including the Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, and Indian Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, to push forward cooperation on building offshore rupee markets in London through the issuance of masala bonds.

Economic Secretary to the Treasury Harriett Baldwin said:

Developing closer economic and financial ties between India and Britain is key to boosting exports and investment, and creating growth in both of our economies.

That’s why I’m delighted to visit India to bolster our cooperation across key markets. With a population of over a billion people and the fastest growing major economy in the world, the opportunities for UK financial firms to partner with and export to India are unlimited.

The visit builds on the significant progress that has been made in deepening economic and financial ties between the UK and India in recent years.

In January 2016 the Chancellor George Osborne announced a package of agreements between the UK and India, focusing on financial services, infrastructure and technology, and Prime Minister Modi announced that the first ever Indian ‘masala’ bond will be issued in London by the Indian Railway Finance Corporation, with the proceeds used to upgrade India’s rail network.

While in India the City Minister will also host a roundtable of India’s leading FinTech entrepreneurs and financial regulators, to showcase the steps the UK has taken to cultivate a world-leading FinTech hub and develop closer ties with India’s top class IT sector.