India-UK Trade Deal: Colonial Past & Economic Sovereignty

New Delhi, Jul 18 (PTI) India's trade relationship with the United Kingdom should be viewed through the prism of the shared colonial history of the two nations, experts said here, while calling for a wider national conversation on the legacy of British rule.

The discussion, titled "Terms of Trade: India, Britain, and the long shadow of Empire", was held on Friday at the India Habitat Centre after the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) came into effect on July 15.

Participants argued that India's engagement with Britain cannot be understood solely through the lens of commerce and diplomacy, asserting that the colonial "experience continues to shape debates on economic policy, institutions and public memory".

Historian Prabhu Mohapatra said that India's experience under colonial rule demonstrated that "a free trade regime did not necessarily produce equitable outcomes".

"We actually had a free trade agreement, so called free trade regime, from 1833 onwards in which what we see as Indian exploitation was the highest. India had tariffs of 2.5 to 5 per cent, the rest of the world had to pay 10 per cent, while England generally had zero duties.

"India was structured under Britain's agency to supply the whole world, and India's labour got connected to this commodity circuit -- from the indigo peasant and opium labour to indentured labour," Mohapatra said.

Economist Charan Singh was also critical of the India-UK trade pact, drawing parallels with Britain's historical commercial engagement with India.


"When the East India Company came to India, we accounted for 25 per cent of world GDP. When they left, we were down to one per cent. Today we are around four per cent of global GDP. It does not provide a level playing field," Singh said.

He added that Britain's per capita income was significantly higher than India's and argued that the agreement "would allow the UK to dictate the terms of trade, leaving India with little choice but to accept conditions that primarily serve British interests".

International trade policy expert Abhijit Das said trade negotiations today extended beyond goods and services to strategic issues such as data governance.

"Today, the focus of a trade deal extends beyond physical resources to data, the 'new oil' of the digital age. India is a huge source of data and unrestricted access to Indian data under such agreements could have serious long-term implications for India's economic sovereignty and strategic interests," he added.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves questioned the transparency of the negotiations.

"The government has not made the text of the treaty public. Such agreements should be debated and ratified by Parliament because citizens have a right to know the commitments being made on their behalf," Gonsalves said, adding that such trade treaties in several countries are placed before Parliament for discussion as part of the democratic process.

The event concluded with a proposal to initiate consultations with historians, academics, civil society organisations, museums and policymakers to establish a 'National Day of Commemoration' for victims of colonialism.