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Even as the economic gloom prevails in key industrial segments in the country, the British government is keenly looking to engage with India to develop an 'attractive climate' for the British companies to invest in the country.
The British High Commissioner to India Dominic Asquith commented on the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) framework in the country saying that the United Kingdom "is keen to collaborate with the Indian government in its ambition to develop a business climate which makes it attractive for foreign British companies to invest here. The UK has a good record in Ease of Doing Business. It is important that we consider balance of interest in terms of investments in each-others' countries."
Gujarat visit
Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani and British High Commissioner to India Dominic Asquith
On his two-day visit to Ahmedabad, Asquith met the Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and business leaders from the State to explore the common interest areas for knowledge sharing and investment prospects.
"Meeting with the chief minister was good and we discussed on common interests in the areas of urban development, healthcare, technology partnership including financial services that is coming up at GIFT City (IFSC)," Asquith said here on Tuesday.
The British government representative also underlined the areas of improvements in the dispute resolution structure for businesses. A "frustrating" delay in resolving the commercial disputes in the courts of law has been one of the areas of immediate concern for the British companies. A quicker process and system that speeds up resolution process and makes it easier for companies to achieve resolution would be mutually beneficial.
Economic concerns
Asquith also stressed that more than the economic indicators such as GDP growth rate, the companies consider factors such as EODB while making an investment decision.
"Indian economy may be growing at a lesser rate than seven per cent. But that isn't bad. The companies aren't looking at growth rate, more than that, they look at the EODB factors. The more those concerns are addressed, the more inflow of companies we see," he added.
On the Brexit concerns and its possible impact on the fresh investments in the UK, Asquith stated that some companies are delaying the investment decisions, which are more related to further expansions. "But it doesn't stop companies from investing in the UK. In the last year alone we had 50 companies investing in the UK. The attraction of investing in UK is more among startups and innovators," he added.
Trade relations
Indicating a strong India-UK trade relations, Asquith stated that there are about 840 Indian companies currently invested in the UK, while about 440 UK companies have their investments in India.
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