UK companies’ investment interest in India will surge if GST regime gets implemented and industry concerns over land acquisition are addressed, Patricia Hewitt, Chairperson of UKIBC, has said.

However, any delay in Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation beyond the proposed April 1, 2016 timeline will not dilute the UK’s long-term commitment to India, Hewitt said on the occasion of the launch of the ‘Sterling Assets India’ report here on Thursday.

Her remarks are significant as they come at a time when speculation is rife that the Modi-led Government’s reform agenda of implementing GST from April 1 next year may get derailed.

The Sterling Assets India report, produced by the Confederation of British Industry, PwC UK and the UK India Business Council (UKIBC), has assessed the impact of British FDI in India in terms of jobs creation, business success stories and corporate social responsibility initiatives of British companies in India across a number of sectors.

The India focused study — in its first edition — has found that between 2000 and 2015, the UK invested $22.2 billion in India — 9 per cent of all foreign direct investment (FDI) that come into the country.

This has made the UK the largest G-20 investor, outpacing the US and Japan, and substantially ahead of other nations.

The report also revealed that UK FDI of $22.2 billion (between 2000 and 2015) generated around 138,000 direct jobs, 7 per cent of the total 1.96 million jobs generated by FDI in India.

As India’s largest G-0 investor and employer, the UK companies currently employ around 6,91,000 people across India, 5.5 per cent of total organised private sector jobs in the country.

This Sterling Assets India study has also found that the UK companies spend more than twice the government requirement on corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Currently, the CSR spend of British companies is 4.4 per cent of profits against the government-mandated figure of 2 per cent.

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