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Mumbai, Sept. 21 The British Midlands region, which has been always favoured by Indian manufacturing, engineering and automotive companies, is now putting out the red carpet for Indian IT and IT enabled companies, related to engineering and manufacturing sectors. Speaking to Business Line, Ms Nicola Kidd, Head of International, British Midlands, said “We are focusing on trying to attract investment in knowledge driven areas, research and development and knowledge services as these are less affected by the credit crunch.”

While there could be some delays, Indian companies that are looking to expand globally will continue to do so, despite the slowdown, Ms Kidd said.

There has been some slowing down in some areas of the economy, such as construction, she added.

Ms Kidd was recently in India to promote the British Midlands region as an investment option among Indian companies related to sectors such as engineering, manufacturing, automobile, logistics, IT and IT enabled services. The region comprises areas around Birmingham and Nottingham and is an hour from London.

The region is a preferred destination for several Indian companies due to reasons such as language, flexible labour, less unionisation compared to other European countries and more competitive labour and property costs when compared to London.

India is currently among the top 10 countries in terms of investment in the UK and the number one in terms of new investment after Tata’s Jaguar Land Rover deal, Ms Kidd said.

Companies that have made recent investments in British Midlands include Mahindra and Mahindra, Godrej (Geometric Software Solutions Ltd), State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, ICICI and Four Soft.

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