Creative industries and growth boosted with new UK-India cultural agreement
Source: gov.uk (2025-05-02)

UK’s arts and culture, creative industries, tourism and sport sectors are set to benefit from a major new cooperation agreement with India

- UK’s arts and culture, creative industries, tourism and sport sectors are set to benefit from a major new cooperation agreement with India
- Culture Secretary leading a delegation of cultural leaders and UK institutions to Mumbai and New Delhi this week
- Agreement to boost collaboration between British and Indian creative businesses and cultural institutions, delivering on Plan for Change to drive growth and opportunity
The UK’s arts and culture, creative industries, tourism and sport sectors are set to benefit from a major new cooperation deal and economic links with India, as the government delivers on its Plan for Change to boost growth and opportunity.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who is of Indian heritage, arrived on Thursday for a three-day visit to Mumbai and New Delhi. She has today (Friday) signed a new bilateral Cultural Cooperation Agreement with India’s Minister for Culture and Tourism, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. She has been joined on the trip by a delegation of senior leaders from VisitBritain, the British Film Institute and the Science Museum, to drive further collaboration between British and Indian creative businesses and cultural institutions.

The agreement will open the door for increased UK creative exports to India and enable more partnerships between UK and Indian museums and cultural institutions, helping to grow UK soft power.

On Thursday the Culture Secretary delivered a keynote speech at the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) in Mumbai, which was also attended by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. Her speech (https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/culture-secretary-lisa-nandy-speech-at-waves-summit-2025) celebrated the living bridge that connects the UK and India, and showcased the strength and attractiveness of the UK’s creative industries, one of the growth-driving sectors identified in the UK government’s Industrial Strategy.

The Culture Secretary then toured Yash Raj Films Studio, where some of the most popular Bollywood films with audiences in the UK are made. Both the UK and India boast rich cinematic traditions and share a deep mutual interest in each other’s storytelling cultures, and the Culture Secretary wants to see more collaboration between UK and Indian film productions.

UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy said:

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.

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. It has given me a deep connection to India’s culture and people and it is an honour to be visiting this magnificent country to forge a closer cultural partnership.

During the visit:

This evening the Culture Secretary will attend a marquee event at the British Council in Delhi, where she will preview performances from India’s Serendipity Arts Festival which is due to hold a mini festival in Birmingham in May and a large-scale event in London next year.

At the same reception, Visit Britain CEO Patricia Yates will launch the Starring GREAT Britain campaign in India, which will draw upon film and TV locations as a driver for inward tourism to the UK.

In the Okhla neighbourhood of Delhi, she will tour boutique fashion houses and workshops and meet a range of Indian fashion designers with UK links.

Earlier today the Culture Secretary met female cricketers at the Sharad Pawar Sports Club, ahead of India hosting the Women’s Cricket World Cup in October 2025. On Saturday she will meet football coaches involved in the Premier League Primary Stars programme in India, a partnership between the Premier League and the British Council to improve physical and sports education in primary schools. Earlier this week the Premier League announced (https://www.premierleague.com/news/4296345#:~:text=The%20Premier%20League%20has%20today,the%20League%20and%20its%20clubs.) it was opening a new office in Mumbai.

As well as her meetings with the Minister for Culture and senior Indian government ministers, the Culture Secretary is also expected to meet with significant Indian investors and business leaders.

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.

ENDS

UK-India Programme of Cultural Cooperation Agreement

The Culture Secretary and Minister for Culture are expected to formally sign the UK-India Programme of Cultural Cooperation. The two nations will commit to enhancing cultural exchange between the UK and India through the arts and heritage, and to encourage long-term partnerships between UK and Indian businesses and cultural institutions.

Implementation 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 the protection of cultural property, with both nations committing to combat illicit trafficking of cultural artifacts.

Further quotes:

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.

Visitors to Science City in Kolkata can explore our Injecting Hope exhibition - which delves into the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines and was created in partnership with India’s National Council of Science Museums - now on display as part of an international tour that has inspired nearly five million visitors in museums across India, China and the UK.”

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.”

Director of the Natural History Museum Doug Gurr 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.

More information:

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.