BRITAIN and India are on track to sign an “amazing deal within a year”, Kemi Badenoch vows today.
The Trade Secretary is traveling to Delhi to "reboot" crunch talks.
But she will not discuss demands for thousands more student visas for locals.
Ms Badenoch will attempt to personally smooth relations with her counterpart, Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal.
It comes after Home Secretary Suella Braverman sparked a backlash by saying Indians are the biggest group of overstayers on their visas.
Former leadership contender Kemi told The Sun the UK is on course to be the first G7 nation to sign a historic accord which will open up Britain’s business to millions of people in India’s middle class markets.
And she will fight to slash eye-watering tariffs and open up opportunities for the UK’s financial and legal services sectors.
Boris Johnson wanted to seal a bumper deal but it was kiboshed by political upheaval in Britain and stalled talks.
Ministers are preparing to make it easier for business leaders to be able to travel to Britain, with time-limited visas instead for highly qualified workers.
Ms Badenoch said: “There is an amazing deal to be done in a year. No deal like this has been done before, it’s going to be great for the UK.”
However, she admitted the fall of Truss' government had meant it had been "very difficult to get anything done" in the last few months.
She said there were no plans to discuss student visas as part of the sixth round of talks — and played down suggestions the Home Secretary had derailed discussions.
She said: "Student visas are a separate Home Office responsibility.
"They wouldn't come into a Free Trade Agreement.
"Often FTAs get dragged into things that aren't to do with trade… making sure we don't let business talks turn into Home Office talks is very key for me.
"Mobility is always in free trade agreements – but it's not migration, it's business visas, temporary entry and so on.
"Each agreement is tailored – we're trying to work out something that works for India and the UK."
Nearly 120,000 Indian students were granted student visas in the last year – overtaking China as the largest nationality.
Rishi Sunak last month announced a new UK-India migration pact to allow up to 3,000 degree-educated Indian students aged 18 to 30 to stay for up to two years.
The Trade Secretary suggested the PM's Indian heritage could help to smooth the way to a deal.
Kemi said: “Obviously there’s a lot of warm feelings towards him. It all helps.”
And she insisted that Britain's tilt towards the Indo-Pacific region was important to stop the UK becoming reliant on rogue states like China.
She said: "You can't just rely on one country like China – you want to have diversified trading partners."
Ms Badenoch said she was enjoying her first big Cabinet job since losing out to Liz Truss, but admitted it was "quite intense".
And she was keen to be heard on meaty economic issues facing Britain – not just woke issues.
She added: "It's a fantastic job in the sense that I'm getting a chance to do a lot of things on the economy, which I wasn't known for.
"It's an opportunity for people to hear me talk about those things – not just on social issues."
Meanwhile, huge British brands including Marks & Spencer and Pret a Manger are set to expand into India for the first time – with new branches in Mumbai.
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