The United Kingdom gives India, a former colony, over £1.4 billion annually in development aid but many Britons are questioning this given that India is quite developed, even boasting its own space program.
Economists estimate that India’s economy will overtake Britain’s by 2022 with 20% annual increases in the number of millionaires in India versus 1% in Britain.
According to the Daily Mail, Indians have saved over £900 billion in Swiss accounts since independence from Britain in 1947, more than any other nation. When a recent offer of cash for gold and precious metals stored in Indian households was made, New Delhi raised over £165 billion from that act alone. Annually, India provides over £3.5 billion to Africa in development aid, not to mention the billions of pounds sterling it spends on domestic projects.
While there is great wealth to be found in India, there is also large amounts of corruption and overwhelming poverty. The UK’s Independent Commission for Aid Impact determined that the United Kingdom’s foreign aid schemes were fragmented and in bad need of reorganization, particularly in India where the monies are often subject to corruption and mismanagement.
During the era of austerity, it is becoming difficult for David Cameron’s government to justify spending on Indian aid development at the expense of retiring existing British debt or expanding social welfare programs at home, Sue Reid argues in the Daily Mail.