The Tory-led coalition government in the UK is trying to play down the debate in the media over the aid to India.
The public anger over the UK aid to India has grown especially after the British media reported that India too was keen to decline the aid from the department for international development.
The UK has already stopped aid to China and Russia, but decided last year to continue development aid to India. It froze the Indian aid programme at £280 million per year till 2015.
The criticism in the media against providing aid to India focuses on the fact that India runs an ambitious space programme, a large military budget and has more billionaires than Britain. The criticism has increased after a European consortium, which includes the UK, lost the IAF fighter jet contract to a French firm.
Britain has since last year made it clear that it aims to stop aid to India, but not immediately.
The DfiD did not respond when asked to clarify whether it has urged India to keep accepting aid last year.
International development secretary Andrew Mitchell, who in December had linked the aid to trade and investment opportunities for the UK in India, said in a statement on Monday that Britain would not stop aid to India, at least immediately.
“India itself has got 60 million children into school in recent years with their own money but more than 30 per cent of the world’s poorest people live there. There are states the size of Britain where half of all children suffer from malnutrition. We will not be in India for ever but now is not the time to quit,” Mr Mitchell said, in almost a repeat of words he used last year to defend the continuance of aid to India.
“Our completely revamped programme is in India’s and Britain’s national interest and is a small part of a much wider relationship between our two countries,” he added.
The minister’s statement comes as Tory MPs urged the UK government to withdraw all aid to India immediately.