This is a special one for me! It’s not only the 30th issue of India Rising, but I’m writing these lines at Delhi airport right after attending the Indo-German Young Leaders Forum 2025. Blessed with exceptional memories after four days with a very special group of people, I’m more convinced than ever that India is rising and deserves more attention in Europe! Shout-out to the whole organising team on such a great conference!

30 issues! Thank you for being part of our India Rising community and for supporting our mission to share and understand India’s rise to the 3rd largest economy! It’s great to have you with us!

This week's edition covers the UK Prime Minister’s visit to Mumbai, India's IPO blockbuster, and more must-know news.

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Now that the Free Trade Agreement between the UK and India has been signed and initial investments have been announced, both nations expect their trade volume to double by 2030.

Last week, the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai. During the two day visit, both partners celebrated the recently signed UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and with 125 leaders from various sectors accompanying Starmer, British investments in India were on top of the agenda.

India and the UK signed their Comprehensive Trade and Economic Agreement (CETA), as the UK-India FTA is called, back in July. The agreement does not only cover reduced tariffs for bilateral trade, but large scale investments from both sides which in combination are expected to double today’s trade volume by 2030.

While reduced tariffs are still pending parliamentary approval in the UK, private businesses are already investing on both sides and confirm what we already shared with regards to TEPA in our last issue of India Rising: European businesses are eagerly waiting for FTAs to be concluded with India and are ready to invest.

UK as well as India based businesses use the public momentum to announce large investments. Indian businesses had already committed to investment projects worth GBP 1.3 billion that will generate 6,900 new jobs across diverse sectors in the UK, and new announcements will increase those further:

While reduced tariffs will be positive for the UK’s export industry, several companies of the British delegation announced large scale investment programs in India that have reached a total of around GBP 3.6 billion.

These are some of the announced investments:

Apart from business and trade related announcements, the momentum in the UK-India partnership is also visible in two other sectors - academia and international politics:

After TEPA, CETA proofs that FTAs with India create necessary momentum for bilateral investments and stronger political ties. Backed by surveys shared in prior issues, I expect this to be the same case for the EU-India FTA and it should be in the interest of both sides to conclude the agreement as soon as possible. India’s stable and growing domestic market could provide stability to European businesses, in exchange for local investment and economic support in the country. I think both sides understand what’s at stake and the EU should make sure to be part of this momentum sooner rather than later as well.

Sources: DW, The Guardian, Times of India, Indian Web2, The Economic Times, DD News, The Hindu

India’s Initial Public Offerings (IPO) have reaccelerated this year and the market has experienced a wave of big brand IPOs over the past weeks. 74 companies have raised more than INR 85,000 crore (around EUR 9.4 billion) in 2025 so far and new major listings joined public markets just today.

India is the fourth largest IPO market at the moment, after the US, China and Hong Kong. Maturing markets and strong investor interest are expected to continue and one of the leading investment banks in the country, Citi, expects IPO volumes to reach USD 20 billion over the next 12 months.

Several large IPOs are taking place just now:

Both offerings are in high demand, but especially LG Electronics’ reached an astonishing oversubscription of 54 times of the share offering and confirms that institutional capital thinks highly of India’s growing electronics and semiconductor sector, and its stock market in general.

In addition to the aforementioned news, the listings of the payments provider Pine Labs, ICICI Prudential Asset Management, or long-awaited IPOs of the majors Reliance Jio Infocomm and Flipkart are expected over the next 12 months. Flipkart just received key approvals to return its HQ from Singapore to India, a requirement to be listed in the country.

India’s financial markets have enjoyed some healthy demand for several years now and thanks to a mix of continued interest by investors to join India’s growth story, capital requirements by businesses to secure and gain market share, and financial markets maturing and being better regulated, I’d expect this positive sentiment to continue.

Sources: Times of India, The Economic Times, Bloomberg, Techcrunch, Moneycontrol

The Indo-German Young Leaders Forum 2025 was just concluded. Over four days, participants had the opportunity to engage and experience in a highly diverse and impactful program.

Check out the Indo-German Young Leaders Forum’s LinkedIn Account for more insights on this year’s conference.

Your random facts and stories about India and the Indo-European friendship.

This week: Diwali (Deepavali), India’s “Festival of Lights”

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