Top UK ministers arrive, voice optimism about 'achche din'

Hague also announced granting of 500 ‘Great Awards' to support Indian students studying in Britain. ‘Great Scholarships India' is a joint programme part-funded through Great Funds and partly through contributions from British Higher Education Institutions.

Hague said there will be no ban on Indian students wanting to pursue higher studies in any of the British universities and qualified professionals working in the island nation. He said Britain had received one lakh Indian students in the last five years.

The Secretary of State said his government will organise a Pravasi Bharatiya Divas next autumn to acknowledge the contribution of over 1.5 million British-Indians and NRIs.  “We want to strengthen our educational links because we both benefit hugely from the flow of students, researchers, ideas and expertise.

We want to work more closely together in foreign policy to advance our shared interests and values,” he said and pledged London's support for New Delhi's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Osborne expressed his country's interest in investing in the Mumbai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor project. “Prime Minister Modi is seeking more investment in the economy and I want British companies to provide it and the British government to support it,” he said.

On the forthcoming Budget on July 10, the first to be presented by the Modi government, he said the whole world has high expectations from it.

“I have every confidence that Arun Jaitley and the whole government will meet those expectations and succeed. My message to this formidable team of reformers is the same as my message to you today,” he said.