Mittal's team, in a quick course correction, amended the claim to say  that he would become the first Indian to be made Knight Commander of the most Excellent Order of the British Empire  by King Charles III.

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The Investiture ceremony will take place at the British High Commission, New Delhi at a later date.

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According to tradition, an honorary knighthood is conferred on an individual who has demonstrated leadership  in their field, contributed to enhancement of British interests at a national or international level and their work and achievements will be viewed as an inspiration to others and they may have influenced their peers, Mittal, chairman and founder of Bharti Enterprise has a  strong connection with Britain and one of his biggest contributions is  in the field of satellites and revival of OneWeb now known as Entelsat with a consortium with the UK Government and other strategic investors. It offers satellite broadband and services globally.

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Mittal  on receiving the title of Most Excellent Order of the British Empire said he “continues to remain committed to working towards strengthening the economic and bilateral trade relations between our two great nations.”

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He expressed his “gratitude to the UK government whose support and keen attention to the needs of business has been crucial in making the country an attractive destination for investment".  

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Both countries he said need to consider each others demands and position to move forward on completion of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks. The FTA talks have tripped over issues  that involved intellectual property rights and rules of origin and services.

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The FTA with 26 chapters was launched in June 2022 to boost economic ties between India and the UK, In 2022-23 bilateral trade between India and the UK increased to $20.36bn.

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Observing that there were a  lot of complementarities between the two countries, Mittal said, "while India was open to foreign investment in most sectors, the UK has a lot to offer though it’s a smaller market. It’s strategic in bio-tech defence and technology services. We saw collaboration between Oxford University and Serum Institute of India to produce Covid- 19 vaccine within a short time."