Rio de Janeiro: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reasserted the urgency for the UK to hasten the extradition of fugitive Indian businessmen Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, highlighting their involvement in major financial crimes against India, news agency PTI reported.

Modi underscored the need to address issues related to economic offenders during his first meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during the G20 meet.

Mallya, accused of wilfully defaulting on loans over Rs 9,000 crore tied to Kingfisher Airlines, has been living in the UK since 2016 while evading extradition for years.

Nirav Modi, who is accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank of Rs 13,000 crore, has been incarcerated in a London jail for five years, after he lost his extradition appeal earlier.

In a major step toward taking UK-India relations, Modi and Starmer announced two new Indian consulates in Belfast and Manchester to strengthen people-to-people ties.

Starmer also announced the relaunch of India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations at the beginning of 2025, a move likely to benefit mutual economic interests and open new avenues.

In January, a high-level team comprising officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED), National Investigation Agency (NIA), and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was set to meet with UK authorities to accelerate the extradition process and trace overseas assets linked to these economic offenders.

India and the UK are obligated under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to exchange information pertaining to criminal investigations.