British High Commissioner to India Rob Young on Thursday said the two countries had set an ambitious target to double trade to pound 10 billion in the next five years from the present pound five billion.
"The UK is India's largest trading partner in Europe and its second largest in the world. I am buoyed by the fact that bilateral trade in goods has increased by over 16.5 per cent in the first six months this year over the corresponding period last year.
"The UK is now one of the largest cumulative investors in India," Young said speaking on the topic "India and UK: Reflections on a modern partnership" organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
Young, whose term as high commissioner to India is nearing its end, said India is an increasingly important investor in UK.
"There are over 450 Indian companies there, around 340 of which are in the knowledge-based sector. India is now the eighth investor in the UK in terms of number of projects.
"Linked to this has been the steady growth in movement of Indian professionals to the UK, especially in high skill areas such as IT, medicine and education."
He said that pharmaceutical giant Glaxo SmithKline had recently opened a new factory in Haryana costing Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) and another company Astra Zeneca had just opened a new multi-million dollar research and development facility in Bangalore.