TLT to advise UK government on India trade agreement

TLT (in consortium with US firm McDermott Will & Emery and Canada’s Borden Ladner Gervais) has been awarded a contract by the UK’s Department for International Trade to advise it on the upcoming free trade agreement negotiations with India, set to begin early next year.

It follows TLT’s appointment to advise the Department for International Trade (DIT) on the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and two bilateral free trade agreements with Canada and Mexico in August 2021.

The consortium was appointed to the UK government’s Trade Law Panel in February 2021.

The UK-India agreement is significant, given that India is a major trading and investment partner of the UK and trade between the two nations is already worth around £23bn a year.

The consortium leveraged its expertise in appointing ‘best in class’ firms from across its international subcontractor network to deliver the mandate, appointing Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Economic Laws Practice as part of the ‘one firm’ team, both headquartered in Mumbai.

TLT was selected following a competitive panel-wide tender process, based on the consortium’s expertise in international trade negotiations, international jurisdictions and government advisory work. TLT also once again demonstrated its ability to deliver a seamless service across the consortium and its network, and to promote gender equality across the contract workforce.

TLT’s India group has a long history of helping Indian clients to grow and protect their businesses, including acting on major cross-border recovery actions, restructurings and new lending for India’s largest banks and financial institutions.

Caroline Ramsay, partner and chair of TLT’s international trade group, says: “We are absolutely delighted to have been appointed on this significant and complex project. With this team, we have combined our consortium’s market leading international trade and UK government law expertise with stellar Indian trade and governance expertise from two leading Indian law firms. We have an unwavering commitment to collaborative working, supported by a strong bench of FutureLaw solutions that enable us to deliver an outstanding service to the Department.”

Ayla Skene, Of Counsel and lead TLT advisor on the contract, says: “With trade between the UK and India already worth around £23bn a year, a UK-India free trade agreement will provide a significant opportunity for the UK to deepen relations with one of its major trading partners. It’s an honour to be assisting the Department for International Trade on this mandate.”

Kanika Kitchlu-Connolly, co-lead of TLT’s India group, adds: “TLT’s appointment to advise on the India free trade agreement is yet another example of the depth and breadth of work carried out by our India group, and is a clear acknowledgement of our expertise linked to the jurisdiction but also of our technical excellence across all sectors and service lines that will be relevant to this project.”