Speaking to reporters on his flight to Mumbai, Starmer, with over 100 entrepreneurs, cultural leaders, and university vice-chancellors on a trip to promote the “historic” India-UK trade deal, said that relaxing visa rules for India was “not part of the plans”, adding that no business leader on the trip had raised the issue of visas.
“The visa situation hasn’t changed with the free trade agreement, we didn’t open up more visas,” said Starmer, adding that his visit aims to help Indian businesses benefit from the India-UK trade deal.
The UK PM further noted the “massive opportunities” in strengthening trade and cultural ties, saying the India-UK relationship was at an “all-time high”.
“The issue is not about visas – it’s about business-to-business engagement and investment and jobs and prosperity coming into the United Kingdom,” he added.
This trip is an excellent opportunity to strengthen existing connections and build new ones, ahead of our campus opening next year
Tim Jones, University of Liverpool
While the UK-India FTA has encouraged measures such as a three-year exemption on National Insurance contibutions for Indian employees on short-term UK visas, and the Young Professionals Scheme (YPS) allowing citizens aged 18–30 to live, work, and study in each other’s country for up to two years, UK ministers have maintained that there are no broader changes to the immigration policy.
“This single reform (on NI contributions) can help around 60,000 IT professionals reduce on-site costs. Since the UK already accounts for nearly 17% of India’s total IT exports, this exemption makes a real financial difference for both companies and employees,” stated Saurabh Arora, CEO and co-founder of University Living.
With the Trump administration planning to overhaul the H-1B visa system, favouring highly skilled and paid workers and following a controversial fee hike to $100,000, Indian graduates and professionals, who make up over 73% of applicants, are expected to be affected.
In contrast, the UK’s attempts to attract top talent with lower visa fees and doubling the intake of highly skilled workers could make the country more appealing to Indians.
“Where there is top talent across the globe, I want to have that talent in the United Kingdom to help us grow our economy,” Starmer told reporters.
UK universities set to benefit from India trip
With 13 UK university vice-chancellors in the delegation, hopes are high that India’s rising demand for higher education, an estimated 70 million places by 2035, will create new opportunities for UK institutions, facing financial pressures at home and expanding abroad through branch campuses.
While the University of Southampton has already opened a campus in Gurugram, enroling around 150 students in its first cohort, institutions such as Coventry, Queen’s University Belfast, Surrey, Bristol, York, Aberdeen, and Liverpool are set to launch campuses by 2026 across GIFT City, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.
According to Starmer, UK universities are not aiming to increase recruitment with the India trip but rather expand their overseas offerings, for students to study while staying in India.
“It is a real honour to join the UK Government’s trade delegation to Mumbai. We were delighted to receive permission from the Indian Minister of Education to open a campus in Bengaluru in May and this trip is an excellent opportunity to strengthen existing connections and build new ones, ahead of our campus opening next year,” professor Tim Jones, VC, University of Liverpool, told The PIE News.
Apart from the University of Liverpool, VCs from the University of Birmingham, University of Leicester, Coventry University, University of Lancaster, University of Southampton, University of York, University of Bristol, Imperial College London, Queen’s University Belfast, UCL, University of Aberdeen, and University of Surrey are part of the delegation to India.
The deeper partnership between India and the UK’s higher education sectors is also reflected in the Vision 2035 framework, which includes an annual ministerial education dialogue to review mutual qualification recognition and promote knowledge-sharing through platforms like the UK’s Education World Forum and India’s National Education Policy (NEP) initiatives.
“With Vision 2035 placing strong emphasis on education, research, and innovation, we expect steady growth in academic collaboration and student flow between the two countries,” said Arora, noting that the trade deal aims to boost bilateral trade by £25.5 billion annually by 2040, which would drive more partnerships, exchanges, and student mobility.
According to Disha Gupta, head of operations and recruitment for India, the UAE, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, Birmingham City University, while India has “moved beyond” being just a recruitment market to a partner in co-creating education solutions, the UK sector’s over-reliance on agent networks without proper regional segmentation still needs to be addressed.
“India is a vast and diverse country, what works in Punjab may not work in Tamil Nadu and sometimes, outreach strategies don’t fully reflect these regional differences,” stated Gupta.
Moreover, Gupta noted that while the decision to avoid relaxing visa rules might raise some questions, “if universities can strengthen employability bridges in both the UK and India through strong industry partnerships, placement opportunities, and alumni networks, students will continue to see the UK as a destination that delivers value”.
As per a statement by the UK government, some of the country’s biggest cultural institutions, including the British Film Institute and the National Theatre, are also part of the delegation, “opening new doors for creative exports, co-productions, museum and heritage partnerships, talent exchange, and joint initiatives across film, fashion, sport, and digital culture”.
UK–India trade deal to generate billions, boost tech collaboration and mobility
Under current projections, the trade deal is expected to boost the UK’s GDP by £4.8bn annually, add £2.2bn to wages, and generate an estimated USD 9-10bn in export growth.
It would also make UK cars and whisky cheaper to export to India, and Indian textiles and jewellery more affordable to export to the UK, according to reports.
Starmer’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday will also feature discussions on the Technology Security Initiative, originally signed a year ago, as both countries seek to deepen partnerships in artificial intelligence, telecoms, and defence technology.
Moreover, during the delegation’s visit, British Airways announced a third daily Delhi–Heathrow flight for next year, while Manchester Airport revealed plans for a new direct route to Delhi to further ease air travel between the two countries.
“It’s not just a piece of paper, it’s a launchpad for growth. With India set to be the third biggest economy in the world by 2028, and trade with them about to become quicker and cheaper, the opportunities waiting to be seized are unparalleled,” Starmer said.
