UK to exempt intra-company transfers from annual limit

The UK will exempt intra-company transfers from the annual limit of number of people going to the country, UK's Secretary of State for business innovation and skills, Dr Vince Cable, said on Monday.

Dr Cable reiterated his Government's position, even as he brings a business delegation on a two-day visit to India, with the aim of expanding trade and investment into the UK.

“We went through a major financial crisis and one of the consequences of that was a massive public sector deficit. We had a clear determination to deal with that,” Dr Cable told newspersons.

Restoring confidence

The new coalition Government in the UK has made “some difficult decisions to restore market confidence” and that has led to “favourable ratings” and “cost of capital coming down,” he said.

Later addressing a business gathering organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Dr Cable said, “We are now seeking to rebalance the economy, away from its over-dependence on banking back towards high-tech manufacturing and other sectors where British firms excel…A key aspect of that is expanding overseas trade and investment into the UK.”

Acknowledging that the financial crisis has shifted the focus of world economy towards emerging markets, Dr Cable said, “We must build far deeper ties with new centres of global growth” which would mean “encouraging a range of companies – large and small – to do business with and in India in the future”.

Dr Cable said India could gain from UK's expertise in areas like advance manufacturing, low carbon technology, education, infrastructure, financial services, and creative industries among others.

India on the other side, he said, is a major investor in the UK. Of the 1,200 Indian companies based in Europe, 700 are based in the UK. There has been an increase in investment in sectors such as financial services, creative, retail, renewable energy, but the country is open to further investment, he said.

Touching upon the issue of migration, Dr Cable said, “The Government has exempted Intra-Company Transfers from the annual limit which comes into effect in April”.

Top-level meetings

While he did not disclose if there were any definite agreements to be signed during his visit, he said that he was meeting Chairman of Indian Atomic Energy Commission, Dr Srikumar Banerjee, on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Smiths Medical, a part of UK-based Smiths Group Plc announced its plans to set up a wholly owned subsidiary in Mumbai.

Dr Cable's visit comes just six months after he accompanied the British Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron, to Bangalore and New Delhi in July 2010. In Mumbai, he met top executives at Essar and Tata groups and interacted with Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr Prithviraj Chavan.