Indian workers at a spare parts store discuss business as the proprietor of a neighboring business sits in his shop in New Delhi.
Salman Khurshid, India's foreign minister, had no objections to the announcement, saying, "Aid is the past and trade is the future." India's reaction points to the former colony's desire to be entirely economically independent from Britain. Last year, rumors circulated about India's near refusal of British aid with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee comparing it to "peanuts" of India's development budget.
For the past three years, India has received nearly $362 million annually from Britain, making it the largest receiver of British aid up until last year when Ethiopia took its place.
British lawmakers argue that India its aid is no longer needed, citing India's spending of over a billion dollars on its space program. Skill sharing, technical assistance and focus on trade will replace monetary backing.
London-based NGO Save the Children cautioned Britain, calling the move "premature". Advocacy director, Kitty Arie, told the BBC, "Despite India's impressive economic progress, 1.6 million children died in India last year a quarter of all global child deaths."
The decision comes nearly 70 years after India's independence from Britain.
(Sophia Jones is an intern with NPR News.)
Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
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