The Hindu Business Line : Northern Ireland opening investment office in Mumbai

New Delhi, Feb 5 Northern Ireland seeks to strengthen business links with India and attract more Indian companies to locate in places like Belfast so as to take advantage of its highly skilled workforce and good education system, the visiting Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Mr Nigel Dodds, has said.

With this objective, Invest Northern Ireland, an inward investment promotion agency, will formally open its office in Mumbai on Wednesday—the first permanent presence that Northern Ireland would have in India.

“We already have strong trade and investment links between India and Northern Ireland. We believe the presence by Invest Northern Ireland in India will build more trade links and pursue investment opportunities in terms of Indian companies coming to Northern Ireland”, Mr Dodds told Business Line.

On his first visit to India, Mr Dodds highlighted that the opening of the Invest NI office in Mumbai came at a time when the Indian economy continued to grow at a very strong rate .

“We believe there are great opportunities for Indian companies in Northern Ireland. That is why having a presence in India through Mumbai office creates opportunity for Northern Island to tell people in India that we are open for business and there is scope for mutual collaboration”, Mr Dodd said.

India is a very significant source of inward investment for Northern Ireland. After the US, Indian companies are the second biggest investors in Northern Ireland. Since 2002, Indian companies have invested about 70 million pounds sterling in that country.

Key investors from India include Firstsource, HCL BPO, Polaris Software and Tech Mahindra. Several Northern Ireland companies including FG Wilson, Mivan, Randox Laboratories, Relay Business Software, Singularity, Denman International and CDE Ireland now have significant presence in India.

The visiting Trade Minister also saw opportunities for Northern Ireland companies to participate in the various infrastructure projects in India. “Companies in construction sector are taking advantage of increase in infrastructure spend by India and seeking more opportunities”, Mr Dodd said.

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