UKIBC’s Shubhi Mishra, gave oral evidence to the UK Parliament’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee

While ratification of a UK-India FTA will no doubt increase opportunities in the sector, there is already a strong market for UK businesses in India. The Indian food and drink market is currently worth 800 Billion pounds per annum. And it is expected to rise annually by 7.96% CAGR till 2028. Looking beyond that, the government of India has set a path to having a $30 T economy by the middle of the century – up from $3 T now. By the same date, it is predicted that India’s population will rise to 1.7 billion and GDP per capita will increase from $2.5K now to $20K.

There is already demand for UK F&D products. India imported around 13,000 food shipments from the United Kingdom in the year 2023. These imports were facilitated by 497 Indian importers from 460 UK suppliers. With the growth of incomes in India, there is an expanding opportunity, and great potential to diversify the products exported to India. Currently, F&D trade is dominated by exports of alcoholic beverages from the UK, with around 33% of India’s imports currently coming from the UK. Beyond alcohol, India also important large quantities of products like processed edible products, nutraceutical products, dairy and livestock products, edible oils and fats. Given that India will be the world’s largest consumer market in the next decade, there is scope for other categories to replicate what has happened for Scotch.