A trade deal between the UK and India isn’t guaranteed any time soon – and this is why

Published

2 years ago

September 8, 2023

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With his heritage and large extended family in the country, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will receive a warmer welcome than most of the other world leaders arriving in India this weekend for the G20 summit.

Unfortunately though, a free trade agreement between the UK and India is not guaranteed any time soon.

Last year, India leapfrogged the UK to become the world’s fifth-largest economy – and in April, overtook China to become the world’s most populous country.

Its growing prosperity makes it a country that the whole world wants to do business with. Before long, it is likely to be the third biggest economy globally after the US and China.

A free trade agreement with India was, in particular, held out as one of the great potential prizes of Brexit. Boris Johnson described a free trade agreement with India, if achieved, as “the biggest of them all”.

India is already the 16th-biggest destination for British goods exports – ahead of South Korea, Turkey, Sweden, Australia and Saudi Arabia and on a par with Canada – and that is only expected to grow.

With the UK a predominantly services-oriented economy, though, it is services that promises the greatest opportunity.

The value of the UK’s services exports to India are already close to the value of its services exports to Japan, Italy and Hong Kong.

In all, Mr Sunak’s aim is to double trade between the UK and India – currently worth some £36bn – by 2030.

At present, though, a deal remains elusive.

This is partly because Mr Sunak is thought to want a more comprehensive and far-reaching agreement than has so far been on offer.

Both he and Kemi Badenoch, the trade secretary, are thought to believe that a shallow deal – of the kind that could have been achieved by now – would make it harder to come up with a deeper deal in future.

But it is also because a number of sticking points remain. The most obvious is India’s desire for the UK to make more visas available for its students and employees of Indian companies, particularly its software businesses, which are among its biggest exporters.

This adds a layer of complexity because one of the biggest beneficiaries of such an agreement could be Infosys, one of India’s biggest software and outsourcing companies, which was founded by Mr Sunak’s father-in-law and in which his wife retains a significant shareholding.

Yet visas appears to be a red line for Mr Sunak, as the PM’s spokesperson made clear this week: “The prime minister believes that the current levels of migration are too high.

“To be crystal clear, there are no plans to change our immigration policy to achieve this free trade agreement and that includes student visas.”

For the UK, the key priority is for India to reduce its tariffs, which are seen as among the world’s most protectionist. Just 3% of UK exports to India are tariff-free – while by contrast, about 60% of Indian exports to the UK incur no tariffs.

Some of the UK’s biggest exports are heavily taxed, most famously Scotch whisky, which attracts a 150% tariff.

Another stumbling block, as negotiations between the two countries enter a 13th round, is India’s approach to intellectual property.

One of India’s biggest exports is generic drugs – sometimes described as “copycat” drugs – cut-price versions of medicines that were once protected by patent, but which are no longer.

The UK, with its rich history of scientific innovation and which boasts one of the world’s most dynamic pharmaceuticals sectors, wants longer patent protection for drugs than India provides under its existing trade agreements.

India argues this would make medicines unaffordable to a big chunk of its population.

Mr Sunak can console himself with the thought that Britain is not the only one struggling to conclude a free trade agreement with India.

The EU is understood to be deeply frustrated at the length of time it is taking to negotiate with a notoriously tricky partner.

But the danger is that, with elections due in both India and the UK during the next year, a free trade agreement could yet be kicked into the long grass.

Business

Concierge firm founded by Queen’s nephew hunts buyer

Published

18 hours ago

May 17, 2025

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Concierge firm founded by Queen's nephew hunts buyer

Quintessentially, the luxury concierge service founded by the Queen’s nephew, is in talks to find a buyer months after it warned of “material uncertainty” over its future.

Sky News has learned that the company, which was set up by Sir Ben Elliot and his business partners in 1999, is working with advisers on a process aimed at finding a new owner or investors.

City sources said this weekend that Quintessentially was already in discussions with prospective buyers and was anticipating receipt of a number of firm offers.

Sir Ben, the former Conservative Party co-chairman under Boris Johnson, owns a significant minority stake in the company.

The Quintessentially group operates a number of businesses, although its core activity remains the provision of lifestyle support to high net worth individuals including celebrities, royalty, and leading businesspeople.

It also counts major companies among its clients and offers services such as organising private jet flights and performances by top musicians.

The sale process is being overseen by a firm called Beyond, although further details, including the price that the business might fetch, were unclear on Saturday.

One insider said parties who had been contacted by Beyond were being offered the option to buy a controlling interest in Quintessentially.

This could be implemented through a combination of the repayment of outstanding loans, an injection of new funding into the business, and the purchase of existing shareholders’ interests, they added.

Quintessentially’s founders, including Sir Ben, are thought to be keen to retain an equity interest in the company after any deal.

In January 2022, newspaper reports suggested that Quintessentially had been put up for sale with a valuation of £140m.

Deloitte, the accountancy firm, was charged with finding a buyer at the time but a transaction failed to materialise.

Sir Ben, who was knighted in Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list, turned to one of Quintessentially’s shareholders for financial support during the pandemic.

World Fuel Services, an energy and aviation services company, is owed £15.5m as well as £3.5m in accrued interest, according to one person close to the process.

The loan is said to include a warrant to convert it into equity upon repayment.

Quintessentially does not disclose the number or identities of many of its clients, although it said in annual accounts filed at Companies House in January that it had increased turnover to £29.6m in the year to 30 April 2024.

The accounts suggested the company was seeing growth in demand from clients internationally.

“During the last year, we have not only renewed important corporate contracts like Mastercard, but have also expanded by adding new corporate clients like Swiss4 in the UK, R360 in India, and Visa in the Middle East and South America,” they said.

In its experiences and events division, it won a contract to work with the Red Sea Film Festival and to provide corporate concierge services to the Saudi Premier League.

It added that Allianz, the German insurer, BMW, and South African lender Standard Bank were among other clients with which it had signed contracts.

The accounts included the warning of a “risk that the pace and level at which business returns could be materially less than forecast, requiring the group and company to obtain external funding which may not be forthcoming and therefore this creates material uncertainty that may cast ultimately cast doubt about the … ability to continue as a going concern”.

This weekend, a Quintessentially spokesman declined to comment on the sale process.

Business

Superstar Adele joins backers of music royalties platform Audoo

Published

1 day ago

May 16, 2025

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Superstar Adele joins backers of music royalties platform Audoo

Adele, the Grammy award-winning artist, has joined the list of music superstars investing in Audoo, a music technology company which helps artists to receive fairer royalty payments.

Sky News has learnt that the British musician and Adam Clayton, the U2 bassist, have injected money into Audoo as part of a £7m funding round.

The pair join Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney and ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus as shareholders in the company.

Changes to Audoo’s share register were filed at Companies House in recent days.

Audoo, which was established by former musician Ryan Edwards, is trying to address the perennial issue of public performance royalties, in order to ensure musicians are rewarded when their work is played in public venues.

Mr Edwards is reported to have been motivated to set up the company after hearing his own music played at football stadia and in bars, without any payment for it.

Estimates suggest that artists lose out on billions of dollars of unaccounted royalties each year.

London-based Audoo uses a monitoring device – which it calls an Audio Meter – to recognise songs played in public venues, and which is said to have a 99% success rate.

It has struck what it describes as industry-first partnerships with organisations including the music licensing company PPL/PRS to track and report songs played in public performance locations such as cafes, hair salons, shops and gyms.

“At Audoo, we’re incredibly proud of the continued support we’re receiving as we work to make music royalties fairer and more transparent for artists and rights-holders around the world through our pioneering technology,” Mr Edwards told Sky News in a statement on Friday.

“We have successfully reached £7m in our latest funding round.

“This funding marks a pivotal moment for Audoo as we focus on our growth in North America and across Europe, bringing us closer to our mission of revolutionising the global royalty landscape.”

Sources said the new capital would be used partly to finance Audoo’s growth in the US.

The latest funding round takes the total amount of money raised by the company since its launch to more than $30m.

Mr Edwards has spoken of his desire to establish a major presence in Europe and the US because of their status as the world’s biggest recorded music markets.

Adele’s management company did not respond to an enquiry from Sky News.

Business

The Sunday Times Rich List: Billionaires fall as King rises to match Rishi Sunak

Published

1 day ago

May 16, 2025

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The Sunday Times Rich List: Billionaires fall as King rises to match Rishi Sunak

The King’s personal fortune has shot up by £30m to put him on par with Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, while the overall number of billionaires in the UK has plummeted, according to The Sunday Times Rich List.

The 2025 list, published on Friday, shows the King’s personal wealth grew from £610m to £640m, taking him up 20 places to 258 – level with former prime minister Mr Sunak and his wife.

The number of overall UK billionaires has fallen to 156 from 165 in 2024, marking the biggest drop since the rich list began 37 years ago.

Gopi Hinduja and his family, behind the Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group, topped the list for the fourth year running with £35.3bn.

Meanwhile, founder and chairman of global chemicals company Ineos Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who became part owner of Manchester United last year, dropped from fourth place to seventh after his reported wealth went from £23.5bn to £17.05bn.

Sir Jim’s £6.47bn losses marked the biggest on the list, while Russian-born brothers Igor and Dmitry Bukhman, who built a fortune on mobile games such as Gardenscapes and Fishdom, made the biggest gains with nearly £6.2bn.

New entries included makeup mogul Charlotte Tilbury with £350m and Ellen DeGeneres, who left the US for the Cotswolds last year.

The Sunday Times said the list was one of its toughest to compile due to Donald Trump’s tariffs and the subsequent stock market turbulence, adding many from previous years had dropped off the list and others were no longer eligible having fled Britain after Labour’s non-dom crackdown.

Overall, the combined wealth of those on the list stood at £772.8bn – down 3% from the last list.

Speaking to Anna Jones on Sky News Breakfast, Rich List compiler Rob Watts highlighted the story of Tom and Phil Beahon, who own sportswear clothing brand Castore which is now worth £1bn, as one of his favourites.

The brothers from Wirral have debuted at joint 345 on the list with an estimated wealth of £350m.

Calling their story “inspiring”, Mr Watts said: “They dreamed of being sportsmen as lads – one of them got onto the books of Tranmere Rovers and the other played cricket for Lancashire, but their sporting careers were over in their early 20s.

“And they say that failure was critical to driving them to create this £1bn sports kit business that you’ll now see being worn by the England cricket team and the England rugby team.”