The UK and India are two countries geared towards adoption of new technologies and the partnership proves that there is no trade-off between building trust and technology, according to Britain’s Minister for Artificial Intelligence (AI), Kanishka Narayan.
The British Indian Cabinet minister was the keynote speaker at the annual Indo-European Business Forum (IEBF) awards at the House of Lords complex in London on Wednesday evening.
The event was themed around a celebration of the three-month mark of the implementation of the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). “You often hear there’s a trade-off between building trust and building technology,” said Narayan. “I feel very strongly that the thing that the UK and India do deeply is to reject that trade-off; instead, to say that you only build trust in the long term if you build technology in your country, and as a result of it, are able to shape it with your values as well.
“And that is why the efforts that India is making in semiconductor design, assembly, testing, packaging, but at the crux of it, respectively, also manufacturing is so important. It’s also why we are very focused in this country, both on developing models, developing the frontier of semiconductors and hardware as well,” he said.
The Muzaffarpur-born MP from Wales touched upon his “personal story” as he highlighted that the most compelling part of the connection between India and the UK is that they are “two countries that are chasing the future” with a “very distinct focus on adoption” of new technologies. “It is pretty hard to not feel that when you’re visiting India and walking around, and even in the smallest of towns. I grew up in a small town in Bihar, and you walk around and you see every single person with a smartphone and a vastly outsized dream compared to the size of their smartphone,” said Narayan, one of the youngest ministers in the UK Cabinet.
The IEBF event, hosted in Parliament by Baroness Sandy Verma, opened with an address by UK Minister for the Indo-Pacific in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Baroness Rosie Winterton.
“The trade deal has opened the door to a new era in our country’s partnership, and our job now is to make sure we seize them by building new connections and find new ways to work together,” said Winterton. “An agreement is only the beginning. Its true success lies in turning opportunities into investment, commercial partnerships and growth for businesses of all sizes. At IEBF, we are committed to making this happen by bringing together business leaders, policymakers and investors to turn shared ambitions into tangible results,” said IEBF Founder Vijay Goel. A tribute to G P Hinduja, the chair of the Hinduja Group conglomerate who passed away in London last year aged 85, was followed by an awards ceremony honouring singer Kanika Kapoor as the India-UK Cultural Ambassador.
Other awards handed out for 2026 included Business Man of the Year to Sanfran Group Director Santosh Mishra, Green Energy Businessperson of the Year for Sandip Sali of Ampergia and Voltx Power and Excellence in Banking and Finance for Amardeep Sharma of Greenback Capital Ltd.