India's export to UK rises by 30 per cent

Kolkata, May 15 (UNI) India's exports to the UK have risen by 30 per cent and imports from Britain to India by about 31 per cent during 2005-06 with bilateral trade in goods and services exceeding billion, said British Deputy high Commissioner to Eastern India, Simon Wilson.

Speaking at an interactive session with members of Bharat Chamber of Commerce (BCC) here today, Mr Wilson said as the 8th largest investor in the UK, India has nearly 600 companies now based in the UK of which over 400 are from the knowledge-based economy.

This represents a huge jump in investment from India to the UK in 2005-06 with 72 new projects compared to 36 new projects in 2004-05. " There are more Indian companies listed on the London Stock Exchange than in New York or on the NASDAQ combined, " he said adding a number of Indian companies from Kolkata had established their presence in the UK over the last few years.

Recent examples are Tata Tea, Apeejay Group, Indo-Flowgatess, Artevea and Usha Martin.

Stating that the British government had put in place new institutional mechanisms to help deliver even better performance, the British Deputy High Commissioner said, " On the private sector side we have seen an important new phase in the development of the Indo-British partnership, founded in 1993. " This had seen the establishment of IBP Boards in both countries-under Sunil Mittal of Bharti in India and Karan Bilimoria of Cobra in the UK-and the creation of the IBP Network in the UK.

" The first joint meeting of the IBP Boards was here in Kolkata in January and the intention is that these two bodies will play a leading role in driving private sector interaction between India and the UK, while working closely with other private sector bodies such as CII, CBC, CBI and FICCI, " Mr Wilson said.

Turning to Eastern India, he said in the last six months there had been significant investments by, for example, Vesuvius India, by HSBC, by Newby Teas. Marks&Spencer are coming to the city in August.

" We are seeing an increasing number of trade missions, including the large business delegation, which accompanied our Trade Minister earlier this year and in my first week in April, a visit by six MPs to drum up support for UK business, " Mr Wilson remarked.

Referring to the UK government's strong focus on the Environment sector, Mr Wilson said following visits by a Solid Waste Mission followed by a Waste water and Water Recycling Mission, the Government was very active on climate change and renewable energy.

Education is a very strong growth area, both in attracting Indian students to UK academic institutions (there are around 20,000 in UK at present), and in providing UK qualifications through local college. Healthcare is another field which is set to grow.

" In India we have nine trade offices located in all the key parts of the country-it's UKTI's second largest network after the United States, " Mr Wilson said adding the size of the network tells a lot about the potential of the market and UKTI's commitment to it.

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