Reports of stopping trade talks with UK 'baseless': India

NEW DELHI: Reports on the Indian government stopping trade talks with the UK over Sikh extremists is completely baseless, the Indian authorities said on Monday.
According to a British media report, India has stalled negotiations with the UK over a free trade agreement (FTA) as it wants tougher action against these groups behind the attack on the Indian High Commission in London last month.
"The report is baseless," an Indian government source said in New Delhi.
The next round of official negotiations is likely to take place from April 24 in London, the source added.
The incident occurred on March 19, when protesters with 'Khalistan' banners staged a demonstration at the High Commission and took down an Indian flag from the building's first floor balcony to denounce recent police action in Punjab.
"India has said they don't want to speak about trade, they don't want to do trade negotiations because they think it's part of a wider problem of us not taking the attack against the Indian High Commission and the wider Sikh separatist movement seriously,” the newspaper quoted a UK government source as saying.
According to official UK government statistics, the India-UK bilateral trading relationship was worth 34 billion pounds in 2022 – growing by 10 billion pounds in one year.
These statistics are expected to be dramatically enhanced with a successful FTA.