India’s startups are looking to the UK as an alternative market for international expansion, as a new trade agreement cuts tariffs on goods and eases some of the costs of deploying Indian workers. Growing uncertainty around US trade policy has also made the UK more attractive.
At least half a dozen startups Mint spoke to said they are either planning to enter the UK or have set up offices there this year. They include GoodMelts, a D2C home-fragrance brand; Fynd, an artificial intelligence (AI)-native unified commerce platform; DevRev, an AI-powered enterprise software company; and PaySmart Payment Technologies, a fintech and digital payments company.
“On the back of the FTA, we are seeing a lot of interest. Discussions are increasing about startups moving to the UK. We’re seeing a lot of companies, particularly in enterprise tech, AI and SaaS, looking at the UK. Lower costs and easier mobility will also drive up business opportunities,” said Hemin Bharucha, regional director for India and Southeast Asia at London & Partners, an organization overseen by the Mayor of London that promotes London and its businesses internationally.
“Trade agreements like this matter less for what they immediately unlock and more for the permission structure they create,” said Sunitha Vishwanathan, partner at early-stage VC firm Kae Capital. Founders already considering the UK now have a stronger case to make internally, while investors have better footing for cross-border conversations, she said.
“Market entry remains difficult, with challenges around distribution, brand building and regulatory navigation. But the FTA shifts the question from “should we?” to “when and how?”, she added.
The broader Indian corporate presence in the UK is also growing. There were 1,912 Indian-owned companies operating in the UK in 2026, up from 1,197 in 2025, according to the Grant Thornton–CII–India Global Forum India Meets Britain Tracker 2026. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on 9 October 2025 that bilateral trade between the two countries stood at around $56 billion and that India and the UK had set a goal to double it by 2030.
Tariff tailwind
The free trade agreement (FTA) eliminates tariffs on nearly 99% of tariff lines of Indian exports to the UK, making the goods provisions most relevant to hardware, D2C and manufacturing-linked startups, experts said. Pure-play SaaS companies, by contrast, are unlikely to see a direct benefit from tariff cuts.
For GoodMelts, the impact is already tangible.
“We sell two types of products. One is electric products, such as wax warmers. Earlier, these products attracted taxes as high as 30%. Those taxes have now essentially been removed, significantly reducing our cost of selling in those markets if we choose to export. The second category is consumables, such as fragrances and candles. These earlier attracted taxes of 30–40%, but those have now been removed as well. This has really opened up the UK market for us,” said Vincy Saini, co-founder of wellness and home fragrance brand GoodMelts.
For startups that need to send employees to the UK, another provision could lower costs. The Double Contribution Convention (DCC) exempts eligible Indian workers and employers from duplicate UK social-security contributions.
“This is projected to save Indian firms and workers over ₹4,000 crore, with the exemption period for detached workers extended to 60 months. The DCC alone is pegged at exempting Indian workers and employers from UK social security contributions for five years, directly boosting take-home pay and lowering employer costs for seconding staff,” said Jidesh Kumar, managing partner of corporate law firm King Stubb & Kasva, Advocates and Attorneys.
University Living is among the startups expanding in the UK.
“Last year, we committed to investing £10 million in the UK and hiring 50 people, and we are on track with that,” said Saurabh Arora, founder and the chief executive of University Living, a global, tech-enabled student housing marketplace.
Services and access
For SaaS, fintech and other services startups, the FTA’s services provisions could matter more than tariff cuts. IT and technology services and financial services are among the 12 service sub-sectors covered under the agreement, experts said, giving these companies greater services-market access and easing professional mobility for deploying engineers and consultants on-site.
“Manufacturing-linked startups (EV components, engineering goods, pharma/biotech) benefit more directly from the goods side, near-zero tariffs and simplified customs make UK-bound hardware exports and contract manufacturing meaningfully cheaper. Pure-play SaaS/deeptech startups without physical goods won't feel the tariff cuts but gain most from the DCC (cheaper to post technical staff) and improved regulatory transparency,” said King Stubb & Kasva's Kumar.
Government procurement could offer another growth avenue. The FTA opens up government procurement for Indian companies in the UK.
“Startups are resilient, but the one thing they are always hungry for is business. The FTA opens up opportunities for them to tap into UK procurement. Large institutions such as the NHS have many government contracts, giving Indian startups access to a much larger market,” Bharucha added.