Britain to end all aid to India in 2015: Minister

LONDON (AFP) - Britain will stop all aid to India in 2015 and the assistance budget will be reduced by around £200 million (S$390 million) until then, the international development minister said on Friday.

Mr Justine Greening said in a statement that after holding discussions with the Indian government earlier this week "we agreed that now is the time to move to a relationship focusing on skills-sharing rather than aid".

The decision by Britain, India's former colonial ruler, comes after controversy at home that London is paying money to a country that can fund its own space programme at a time when British taxpayers face harsh austerity.

Britain has previously defended its aid payments to India on the basis that tens of millions of Indians live in poverty.