Bid To Woo Business Aboard Royal Yacht

Did you know that Ferraris are designed in Essex, Great Britain? Or the fact that Rover, a UK-based car maker will develop German auto major BMW's next generation of engines?

Andrew Fraser, chief executive of the Invest in Britain Bureau, uses such corporate trivia to underscore the advantages of investing in Great Britain for the Indian industry and using the country as a gateway to the markets of the European Union and eastern Europe.

And in a setting aboard Queen Elizabeth's royal yacht, the HM Britannia, Fraser's arguments sound convincing. "Britain has transformed its economy by making structural changes and as a result has the highest labour productivity rates and the cheapest labour in Europe now," he said. In 1995, forty per cent of all investment in Europe landed up in Great Britain. Its geographical location, technological edge and superior infrastructure, not to mention a financial centre called London amidst it all, make UK the place for Indian companies to invest in for pursuing their global dreams, he emphasised.

Surprisingly, this message was not delivered to the elite companies of the Indian industry. As one industrialist present aboard the yacht remarked: "Twenty-one Indian companies have already set up wholly-owned subsidiaries in the UK. Another 51 firms are in the process of setting up subsidiaries. As this includes virtually all the big Indian corporates, the British are now more interested in attracting the up-and-coming Indian companies looking for an European gateway."

The British commissioner to India, David Gore-Booth in his speech also revealed that with India heading towards capital convertibility in the medium term, he expected more firms to use Britain to set up distribution networks for their products in Europe.

Companies present for the seminar on 'Britain, the preferred location' included Pidilite Industries, software firm Onward Technologies, shoe manufacturers Ram Exports, textile machinery maker New Standard Engineering Company and specialist chemical makers SMZS Chemicals.

In the short term, however, the Invest in Britain Bureau hopes to channelise investment from firms under the new RBI dispensation whereby companies can spend up to $4 million on overseas offices without the prior permission from the central bank.

But it was not all about inward investment into Great Britain. Under the aegis of the Indo-British partnership, there are several events and seminars being held to improve the flow of British investments into India. During the week, there will be seminars on the oil and gas industry, insurance sector, infrastructure finance and the power sector which will feature a variety of delegates from Britain's foremost companies and banks.

While the Indo-British partnership will carry on, the HM Britannia is on her last voyage before being decommissioned later this year. After Mumbai, the yacht along with the British investment roadshow will head for Chennai and then to Hong Kong (via Thailand and Singapore) in time for Prince Charles and Chris Patten, the Hong Kong governor, to formally hand-over the territory to China on June 30 and sail off with the British flag.

"Next time, the British are unlikely to have such a regal setting in which to woo investors," remarked one corporate chief present.