UK delegation reaches out to Indian companies

An arena company is planning to set up a 30,000 seater arena in Gujarat, as part of a joint venture with an Indian company. Atlantis Resources recently forged a deal for attempting to develop tidal power projects capable of generating more than 100 megawatts of power at the Gulf of Kutch.

These are a few examples of UK companies seeking to expand business relations in India. The UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) has brought in a business delegation to India to explore potential business opportunities through partnerships.

Among the sectors in focus are railways and infrastructure, education and skills, renewable energy, lifesciences, biotech and pharma.

What's more, as part of UK's efforts to reach out to various sectors in India, there is also a possibility of it opening a British Safety Council office in India to promote health and safety. Operating in 50 countries, The British Safety Council is one of the world’s leading health and safety organisations and runs courses on health and safety in India.

The delegation has created a nine 'emerging cities' programme, which includes events to highlight the interest and capabilities of UK companies to work with companies in Ahmedabad. Citing the reason behind looking towards India, Vicki Treadell, British Depty High Commissioner, Western India, said, "Britain is the third largest investor in India. Besides, in spite of being just 1 per cent of the world population, we produce 5 per cent of the world's science. It would be interesting to note that India's GDP is 7.9 per cent today from 6.7 per cent just a month ago. This is the place for us to do business, especially during the Dubai downturn time, India and UK can be the solution for each other."

Treadell also highlighted the fact that the only way for UK to recover from the slowdown is business performance. "We have reached the bottom and it may take us a little longer than our European counterparts to recover. The only sector where our government has pumped in money is banks and the only way for us to recover is through business performance. We are also trying to create a partnership to build a supply chain between the Indian and UK small and medium enterprises (SMEs). There are a number of companies in India which are good at manufacturing, who can use our design and innovation."

The delegation also is planning to get angel investors for around 10 Indian entrepreneurial ventures.

"In April 2010, 8-10 mid-sized entrepreneurial ventures from India will be taken to UK so that they can pitch for the 50 angel investors, who can fund anywhere between 300 pounds to a million pounds. The idea is to match the sector capabilities with the sector opportunities," said Sharon Bamford, CEO if UKIBC.

UK's bilateral trade with India is worth over 12 billion pounds. UK's exports to India were up 30 per cent in 2008 to 5.9 nillion while imports were up 17 per cent in 2008 to 6.2 billion pounds.