- Visit by UK Minister will build on the momentum
from the UK-India trade deal, meeting with British businesses
succeeding in Chennai and Bengaluru.
- In Bengaluru, the Minister will confirm that the British
Council's Women in STEM Scholarship programme will return to
South Asia, with 10 new scholarships worth £400,000.
- The Minister is also expected to launch a second visa fraud
campaign in Tamil Nadu, where she will see how joint
UK-India efforts are helping to protect Indian families from
exploitation.
UK Minister for the Indo-Pacific, , is in India today (20
November) for her first visit since she was appointed to the
role, to take forward the recently signed landmark Free Trade
Agreement (FTA).
The deal is projected to boost UK GDP by £4.8 billion annually,
raise wages by £2.2 billion, and increase bilateral trade by
£25.5 billion.
The Minister will build on the success of the UK Prime
Minister Keir Starmer's recent trade
mission to India, meeting with British
businesses succeeding in Chennai and Bengaluru – including
Tesco, Revolut and BT – to hear how the
UK-India FTA is helping them grow and bring investment
back to the UK.
Minister for the Indo-Pacific said:
As a UK Minister of Indian descent, I am delighted to be visiting
India so early since my appointment as UK Minister for Indo
Pacific. It is a reflection of the importance of India to the UK,
and testament to a transformative year in UK-India relations.
Our joint UK-India Vision 2035 has the landmark free trade
agreement at its core. During my visit I will see the impact
of our revitalised partnership: creating thousands of
jobs, driving innovation, and delivering investment in both our
countries.
In Bengaluru, the Minister will confirm that the British
Council's Women in STEM Scholarship programme will return to
South Asia and India after a gap of one year.
These scholarships provide full funding - to currently worth at
least £40,000 - for one-year master's degrees at leading UK
universities, covering tuition, living costs, travel, and health
insurance. This year, 10 scholarships will be reserved for South
Asia, worth £400,000, with applications for the 2026–27 academic
year opening in January.
The Minister will hold bilateral meetings with Karnataka State
Industries Minister, M. B. Patil, and Karnataka Higher Education
Minister, Dr. M. C. Sudhakar, to discuss advanced manufacturing,
research and skills collaboration. She will meet Tamil Nadu's
Minister for Industries, Investment Promotion and Commerce, Dr.
T. R. B. Rajaa, to discuss opportunities in advanced
manufacturing, green technologies, innovation-driven investments,
and skill development for future-ready industries.
The Minister will also see how joint UK and India efforts
are raising awareness of visa fraud in hotspot regions,
helping to protect families from exploitation and reduce the
number of illegal entrants into the UK.
In Chennai, she is expected to expand the UK's campaign to tackle
visa fraud in India to Tamil Nadu. The campaign will aim to
reduce the number of people travelling to Britain on fake visas,
with the UK and India cooperating to protect people from scams
and tackle illegal migration at its source.
The new campaign follows a successful pilot already underway in
the Punjab region in northern India. It will include targeted
outreach in high-risk areas, plus a Tamil-language WhatsApp
chatbot to help Indian nationals identify visa scams and avoid
fraudulent agents.
The three-day visit is a reflection of the revitalised UK-India
partnership, under the joint UK-India
Vision 2035. The revitalised partnership will unlock new
opportunities for bilateral trade and investment to thrive,
strengthen our defence cooperation to keep our people safe, and
nurture the next generation of global talent.
