UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Confronts Questions Over His Wife Akshata’s Infosys Stake In India-UK FTA

Rishi Sunak with his wife Akshata Murty. Credit PTI

In a potential free trade agreement (FTA) with India, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak may face transparency problems over his wife Akshata Murty’s Infosys shares worth an estimated 500 million pounds.

According to ‘The Observer’, the Opposition Labour Party and trade experts are concerned about the actual financial impact because Infosys, the Bengaluru-based software service company co-founded by Akshata’s father Narayana Murthy, stands to benefit from any such trade agreement.

As Sunak prepares for his first visit to India as British Prime Minister for the G20 Leaders’ Summit next month, India and the UK have been negotiating an FTA, which is already in its 12th round of negotiations.

“As the Prime Minister recently learned, it’s important he declares any interests properly. I expect him to do so in respect of the India trade deal too”, said Darren Jones, Labour MP and chair of the House of Commons Business and Trade Select Committee, which has been scrutinizing the FTA talks.

The UK parliamentary watchdog revealed its conclusion after a probe earlier this week, concluding that Sunak had inadvertently failed to correctly declare his wife’s shareholding in childminding firm Koru Kids, which stood to benefit from the government’s budget strategy. The incident was resolved after the 43-year-old British Indian leader apologized for the inadvertent breach that happened out of confusion.

Infosys, which has contracts with the British government as well as numerous UK enterprises, is known to desire to enhance access to the UK for its thousands of contract workers through reforms to the visa rules. It is stated that allowing additional visas for its workers in fields like IT and artificial intelligence (AI) is a ‘key Indian demand in the talks’.

While his party supports a trade deal with India, Shadow Trade Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds stressed the importance of Sunak being transparent about any relevant business links and his personal role in negotiations.

Alan Manning, an economics professor at the London School of Economics, told the media that because software services are one of India’s largest export areas, the country will naturally seek possibilities to expand them in trade accords.

“As the Prime Minister’s family may have a direct financial interest in any deal on immigration, he should recuse himself from this part of the negotiations to avoid any perception of conflict of interest”, Manning added.

The reports came as UK Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch met with her colleague, Piyush Goyal, in India this week for a G20 trade meeting. Goyal stated that they discussed methods to add further momentum to the India-UK FTA negotiations for a “mutually beneficial deal.”

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Spriha Rai