British Foreign Secretary William Hague (L) and Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne speak during a meeting with Indian business leaders in Mumbai on July 7
World leaders are lining up to secure multi-billion dollar deals in India, and at top of their agenda is to impress the new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government prepares to open the nascent defence industry to foreign investment.
The UK's Foreign Secretary William Hague and Finance Minister George Osborne are on a two-day visit to India to sell the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA). Despite its Eurofighter Typhoon losing out to France's Rafale in 2012, the UK is still not given up, sources are saying. The two British politicians are likely to push for the deal in their meetings with Indian leaders.
The hope emerges from the delay in finalising of the Rs 10,000 crore Rafale deal with France. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was in India last month to close the stalled deal.
The British are focusing on defence and infrastructure related projects. The UK is also keen on building smart cities for India along the Mumbai-Bangalore corridor seeking to capitalise on Mr Modi's promise to build 100 such cities across India.
The two leaders will meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitely
and will also call upon the Prime Minister.
Mr Hague and Mr Osborne's visit is the latest in the recent spate of foreign leaders registering their presence in the corridors of power in new delhi. After Foreign Ministers of France, Singapore and China, now the UK all seem to be competing for PM Modi's attention.