India and the United Kingdom (UK) announced the launch of the UK-India Infrastructure Financing Bridge (UKIIFB) during the 12th Round of Ministerial India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) held in New Delhi, Delhi on 11th September 2023, to secure long-term investment for vital infrastructure sectors in India.
- UKIIFB is a collaborative initiative signifies the continuing commitment of both nations to work in close cooperation toward unlocking substantial infrastructure investment opportunities in India.
- UKIIFB initiative also provide expertise and investment to support the National Infrastructure Pipeline of India.
Note: The next(13th) Ministerial India-UK EFD will be held in London, UK in 2024.
Key People:
The Indian delegation was led by Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, and the UK delegation was led by Jeremy Hunt, Member of Parliament (MP), Chancellor of the Exchequer, UK.
- The 12th India-UK EFD concluded with the adoption of the Joint Statement by Nirmala Sitharaman and Jeremy Hunt.
UK-India Infrastructure Financing Bridge (UKIIFB):
i.UKIIFB initiative is led jointly by the National Institute for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) and the City of London.
ii.Primary objective: To unlock infrastructure investment and leveraging the City of London’s expertise in structuring and phasing major infrastructure projects.
iii.The UK has a lot to offer in the financial and project management areas, and India’s remarkable ability as an investment powerhouse in technology, fintech, and green transition underscores its pivotal role in driving global economic growth.
- Both nations underscored the significance of mutual knowledge exchange, enhanced cooperation, and support, by focusing on advancing infrastructure development, a robust FinTech ecosystem, and Sustainable Finance, towards global economic stability and sustainability.
Benefits: By uniting the collective strengths of both nations, the UKIIFB is composed to create a transformative impact, securing the foundation for economic growth, job creation, and shared prosperity in both the UK and India.
Commitments:
i.Both nations are committed to working together on:
- Enhancing economic growth; Securing economic resilience; Furthering climate action and sustainability; and Transforming their economies via technology and infrastructure.
ii.The commitments are supported by the India-UK Roadmap to 2030, to work together to maximise new opportunities and address emerging challenges.
Some Commitments at the 12th EFD:
Enhancing Economic Growth:
i.The Financial Market Dialogue (FMD) held in London in 2023, provided an opportunity to deepen the cooperation between both nations across a range of subsectors including banking, insurance, and pension, among others.
- The Ministers also participated in the India-UK Financial Partnership (IUKFP) meeting co-chaired by Mr. Uday Kotak and Mr. Bill Winters.
- The IUKFP meeting, inter alia, held discussions on policy papers as well as ideas for deeper financial exchange and collaboration between the two countries.
ii.India and the UK reiterated the commitment to deepen their collaboration on Financial Services, building on each other’s strengths and supporting mutual aspirations towards financial inclusion and sustainable development.
- There was optimism in terms of the activities being done by India to promote financial services and investment in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) and the UK’s commitment to supporting the same.
- GIFT Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is India’s first IFSC under the SEZ Act 2005.
Securing Economic Resilience:
i.They committed to enhancing the resilience of both economies including through trade, macroeconomic cooperation, and collaboration on global challenges, both bilaterally and multilaterally.
ii.The UK offered a new UK-India Economic Cooperation Programme to deploy cross-country knowledge exchanges, capacity building, and technical assistance to support India’s proposed economic reforms, climate, and so on.
Furthering Climate Action and Sustainability:
Both nations are making efforts towards reaching their respective Nationally Determined Contributions and net zero goals and to adapt and build resilience to climate impacts. They also recognised the significance of mobilising affordable and adequate public and private finance for climate action.
- The commitment made by the developed countries to the goal of USD 100 billion in climate finance per year by 2020, and annually through 2025, to address the needs of developing countries.
Transforming Economies via Technology and Infrastructure:
Both nations welcomed the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which is an integral addition to the global standards for the automatic exchange of information.
- The commitment to launch CARF exchanges by 2027 aligns with the aspirations of numerous jurisdictions.
Recent Related News:
According to the report World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2023, by the United Nations (UN) released on May 16, 2023, India’s economy, the largest in the South Asian region, is expected to grow by 5.8% in 2023 and 6.7% in 2024, supported by resilient domestic demand.
About the United Kingdom (UK):
Capital– London
Prime Minister– Rishi Sunak
Currency– Pound Sterling, or Great British Pound (GBP)
