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As the UK and India reach the closing stages of agreeing on a bilateral Free Trade Agreement, global advisory firm EPG is hosting its annual get-together of change-makers, policy and business leaders for high-level discussions on pertinent topics, called “India Week 2023”.

EPG’s India Week seeks to celebrate these trends, across several special events on 7-12 May 2023 in Leicestershire, Oxford and London.

A Free Trade Agreement between India and the UK is expected to enhance economic growth and prosperity by increasing import and export flows; increasing investment flows (both outward and inward); enhancing productivity through a more efficient allocation of resources; and greater openness to international competition.

The India Week 2023 event will start with an exclusive CEOs’ Golf Weekend on 7-8 May, moving to the University of Oxford for an education leaders’ conference and Awards on 9 May attending by more than 40 leading educational institutions from India, in partnership with WBR.

Thereafter, there will be the flagship Ideas for India conference in London on 11-12 May, including dinner at the Houses of Parliament and a special dinner to celebrate UK-India ties. This conference will be in partnership with the leading think tank Bridge India.

Lord Tariq Ahmad, Minister of State at the FCDO, said the event “provides an excellent opportunity to celebrate the deep friendship between our two countries, and also look to the future. It is this trusted partnership that extends to trade as well.”

Angela Rayner, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, said: "It was an honour to speak at the conference, further saying “The people of the Indian diaspora strengthen our economy, culture and society – but are also at the heart of our communities.”

Pratik Dattani, Managing Director of EPG, said: “India’s economic growth rate is the highest amongst major economies today, as China struggles with a bloated infrastructure sector, local government bad debts, a zero-Covid policy and an ageing population. India’s inflation rate is lower than that of the UK, US and other major economies. As the Western world diversifies its supply chains and geopolitical dependencies away from China, India stands to benefit.”

“This week-long celebration represents a window into India truly going global. We expect more than 100 participants from India, as well as more than 600 attendees throughout the week.”

Meanwhile, when Mr Rishi Sunak became the British Prime Minister recently, as the first ethnic minority to hold the office, it cemented a special relationship between the two counties. The Financial Times recently said this would be “India’s coming decade of outperformance” and The Economist said “This is India’s moment.”

Also, Sunak's appointment as the Prime Minister of the UK may help smooth irritants in the proposed India-UK trade pact.

The last edition of the event saw attendance from the two major political parties in the UK, as well as seven political parties from India including participation from Dr Ashwath Narayan (Minister for Higher Education, IT, BT, Skill Development and Livelihood, Karnataka) and Tejashwi Yadav (Deputy Chief Minister, Bihar).