Scotland expecting growth in business partnerships with India

With over 100 Scottish firms forging business partnerships with Indian companies last year, a Scottish governmental agency Thursday said it is expecting a surge of 30 percent in the number of such collaborations in the 2013-14 fiscal.

"With 116 Scottish companies establishing partnerships with Indian companies in FY 12-13, which is an increase of 30 percent over the previous year, we expect the same rate of growth in the number of such companies by the end of FY 13-14," said Rooma Kumar Bassi, director-north and east India, Scottish Development International (SDI).

SDI is the international economic development arm of the Scottish Government, which set up its base in India in 2001 with offices in New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

Bassi said the growth in the business partnerships will result in increase in the bilateral trade which is expected to grow by 15-20 percent in the next few years.

"The mutual trade roughly now stands at around 3,00,000 pounds and new partnerships will certainly add to the trade which is expected to grow by 15-20 percent in the next few years," said Bassi.

The SDI is scouting for business opportunities with India as it looks for investment in sectors like information technology, energy, education, life science, heavy engineering among others.

The SDI is expecting a growth in Indian investment in the country which currently stands at $1 billion with the presence of names like Tata Steel, Wipro, Usha Martin etc.

"While there is presence of big Indian companies, we welcome small and medium enterprises to invest in Scotland where they can get incentives like regional selective assistance, research and development (R&D) funding and concession on corporate tax provided to foreign investors in selected areas," added Bassi.

The SDI is also slated to talk to the West Bengal government regarding investment in the state.