New Delhi, Nov. 7: India and Britain today agreed to set up a joint working group on trade, signalling their willingness to discuss a free trade pact that is likely to kick in soon after Britain quits the European Union (Brexit).

The decision was taken after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Theresa May. Earlier in the day, May had indicated at a tech summit that the UK would work to deepen ties with India ahead of Brexit.

"I will be discussing with Prime Minister Modi how we can increase the detail and depth of our trade and investment talks, and identify what more we can do now to unleash our businesses, industries, exporters and investors. This does not need to wait for us to leave the EU," May said at the summit attended by Indian and British businessmen to discuss collaboration in technology.

British officials have already sounded out their Indian counterparts on a trade pact, and informal groups had been set up to look into a possible engagement.

New Delhi is keen to bring the services sector within the ambit of the trade talks to make it easier for IT personnel to travel to the UK - a key demand made by the industry body Nasscom at the summit.

Modi also made it clear that it was important to allow greater mobility to skilled professionals after his meeting May later in the day.

"There is no such thing as selective free trade," economic and planning think-tank NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said at the summit. Britain offers easier visa rules for frequent business travellers.

Indian officials said while the easier movement of people might turn out to be a stumbling block to a deal, there were other key issues that also needed to be resolved.

New Delhi is not only keen on deals to ease software exports and the movement of IT and healthcare professionals but also lower duties on textile and garment shipments. Britain wants concessions on financial services exports.

Vodafone tax tiff

The UK today asked for speeding up the arbitration process to resolve the multi-billion dollar Vodafone tax dispute even as India assured that it will not resort to a retrospective route in such cases.

Britain's minister for international trade Liam Fox, during his meeting with commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman, flagged the Cairn Energy and Vodafone issues, demanding their speedy resolution.

"Their request was at least in the Vodafone case, would we (India) please not delay or would you (India) please expedite the arbitration, so that (the case) gets a closure," Sitharaman told reporters.