UK-India Cultural Cooperation Agreement Boosts Creative Industries and Tourism
The UK’s arts, culture, creative industries, tourism, and sport sectors are set to benefit from a significant new cooperation agreement with India, as the government advances its Plan for Change to drive growth and opportunity.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who is of Indian heritage, has embarked on a three-day visit to Mumbai and New Delhi, during which she signed a new bilateral Cultural Cooperation Agreement with India’s Minister for Culture and Tourism, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The delegation includes senior leaders from VisitBritain, the British Film Institute, and the Science Museum, aiming to foster collaboration between British and Indian creative businesses and cultural institutions.
The agreement aims to increase UK creative exports to India, strengthen partnerships between UK and Indian museums and cultural institutions, and enhance the UK’s soft power through cultural exchange.
During her visit, Nandy delivered a keynote speech at the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) in Mumbai, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The speech highlighted the UK’s creative industries as a key growth sector, as outlined in the UK government’s Industrial Strategy. Nandy also toured Yash Raj Films Studio, emphasizing the shared cinematic traditions and potential for greater collaboration between UK and Indian film production.
“In the arts and creative industries, Britain and India lead the world and I look forward to this agreement opening up fresh opportunities for collaboration, innovation, and economic growth for our artists, cultural institutions, and creative businesses,” Nandy said. “Growing up as a mixed race child with proud Indian heritage, I saw first hand how the UK’s culture – from food, fashion and film to music, sport and literature – is enriched by the unique contribution of the Indian diaspora.”
During the visit, Nandy will attend a marquee event at the British Council in Delhi, previewing performances from India’s Serendipity Arts Festival. She will also launch the Starring GREAT Britain campaign in India, which will use film and TV locations to promote tourism to the UK. Nandy will tour boutique fashion houses in Delhi and meet Indian fashion designers with UK links. She will also meet female cricketers ahead of India hosting the Women’s Cricket World Cup in October 2025 and football coaches involved in the Premier League Primary Stars programme in India.
Actor and writer Sanjeev Bhaskar said, “The creative industries are a powerful, enjoyable way to bring people together so I hope this visit further solidifies a mutual appreciation not just of the long established arts of both countries but also the evolving areas of film, music and theatre that are successfully combining artistic traditions from India and the UK to explore and cement what is a unique relationship.”
Film director Gurinder Chadha said, “As a filmmaker who has spent my career celebrating being British Punjabi and honouring the connections between Britain and India, it is great to see our cultural bonds further strengthened through this new agreement from my friend and colleague Lisa Nandy. Now we have a real opportunity to unlock exciting new creative opportunities for artists and storytellers to the benefit of both our countries.”
Implementing the agreement will involve the British Council in India and the Indian Ministry of Culture, with participation from major UK cultural institutions including Arts Council England, the British Library, the British Museum, Natural History Museum, Science Museum Group, and the V&A Museum. This has the potential for British museums to launch new partnerships on exhibitions or public programmes that engage the Indian diaspora in the UK.
The UK will work with India to support best practice and expertise on heritage conservation, museum management, and digitisation of collections, including making knowledge contained in South Asian manuscripts more widely accessible and protecting cultural property to combat illicit trafficking of cultural artifacts.
Sir Ian Blatchford, Director and Chief Executive of the Science Museum Group, said, “This commitment from the British and Indian Governments to deeper cultural cooperation will further strengthen our relationships with Indian cultural and scientific organisations, helping the Science Museum Group to share ever more fascinating stories of scientific discovery with audiences in both the UK and India.”
Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A, said, “The V&A is delighted to contribute to the new UK-India cultural partnership. It will increase our ability to loan more objects from our world-class collection, and build strategic relationships with the booming Indian arts scene across design, fashion, photography, and performance.”
Dr Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the British Museum, said, “The British Museum’s collaboration with partner museums across India are some of our deepest and most successful. For example, in Mumbai, we have a groundbreaking partnership with the CSMVS Museum – one of India’s biggest – which is based around the reciprocal exchange of objects, knowledge, and ideas. I’m delighted that the UK-India Cultural Cooperation Agreement recognises, at the highest level, the importance of cultural collaboration between our two countries and we look forward to strengthening these partnerships further.”
Doug Gurr, Director of the Natural History Museum, said, “India is clearly a nation of talented, passionate and prolific wildlife photographers! Indian photographers have consistently been well-represented in our prestigious photography competition Wildlife Photography of the Year – and this year we had a record-breaking number of over 300 entrees from India, an increase of 79 per cent! It has been our honour to share the awe-inspiring images of our Indian alumni to millions of people worldwide and we have had the pleasure of collaborating with Dhritiman Mukherjee, Ripan Biswas and Nayan Khanolkar to deliver conservation photography workshops for young people in Kolkata. We are thrilled that our connection continues at the Visual Poetries Photography Festival in Gujarat this summer, with our Competition Manager joining their jury and our Wildlife Photography of the Year Highlights on display throughout.”
Rebecca Lawrence, Chief Executive of the British Library, said, “The British Library has a long history of successful collaboration with our peers in India, including on the landmark ‘Two Centuries of Indian Print’ project and through our Endangered Archives Programme. We warmly welcome this agreement which will provide opportunities to further deepen our partnerships, exchange valuable professional skills and insights, and strengthen our shared networks of knowledge and culture.”
VisitBritain forecasts a record 766,000 visits from India to the UK in 2025, up 7 percent on 2024, with travellers spending £1 billion – a 12 per cent year-on-year growth. The BPI has reported that British music exports to India experienced a significant 26.3 percent increase in revenue. This moves India into the top 20 biggest overseas territories for UK recorded music, and there have recently been tours by major British acts including Coldplay in January and Ed Sheeran in February.