India-U.K. business relations growing, says U.K. High Commissioner

The British High Commissioner to India says the United Kingdom is looking to develop an “attractive climate” for U.K.-based companies to invest in India.

The current slowdown in the economy does not deter U.K. companies from investing in India, which has ambitious targets to build infrastructure in the country. The British government is looking to develop an “attractive climate” for U.K.-based companies to invest in India, which offers multiple benefits, including a massive market.

The British High Commissioner to India, Sir Dominic Asquith, commented on the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) framework in the country, saying that the United Kingdom “is keen to collaborate with the Indian government in its ambition to develop a business climate which makes it attractive for foreign British companies to invest here. The U.K. has a good record in Ease of Doing Business. It is important that we consider balance of interest in terms of investments in each-others’ countries.”

On his two-day visit to Gujarat, Mr. Asquith met the Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and business leaders from the State to explore areas of common interest for knowledge sharing, and investment prospects in important sectors like pharmaceuticals and life sciences, technology and infrastructure.

“The meeting with the Chief Minister was good and we discussed common interests in the areas of urban development, healthcare and technology partnership, including financial services that are coming up at GIFT (Gujarat International Finance Tec) City IFSC (International Financial Services Centre),” Mr. Asquith said in a media briefing on Tuesday.

The British government representative also underlined areas of improvements in the dispute resolution structure for businesses.

According to him, “frustrating” delays in resolving commercial disputes in courts of law has been one of the areas of immediate concern for British companies operating in the country.

A quicker process and system that speeds up resolution processes and makes it easier for companies to achieve resolution would be mutually beneficial for the companies as well as the country seeking investments.

He also stressed that more than economic indicators such as GDP growth rate; companies consider factors such as EoDB (Ease of Doing Business) while making investment decisions.

“The Indian economy may be growing at a lesser rate than 7%. But that isn’t bad. The companies aren’t looking at growth rates. More than that, they look at the EoDB factors. The more those concerns are addressed, the more inflow of companies we see,” he added.

On concerns over Brexit and its possible impact on fresh investments in the U.K., Mr. Asquith stated that some companies are delaying investment decisions, which are more related to further expansions. “But it doesn’t stop companies from investing in the U.K. In the last year alone. we had 50 companies investing in the U.K. The attraction of investing in U.K. is more among start-ups and innovators,” he added.

Indicating strong India-U.K. trade relations, Mr. Asquith stated that there are about 840 Indian companies currently invested in the U.K., while about 440 U.K. companies have their investments in India.

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