LONDON: Indian businessmen are beginning to make waves in Britain, and it’s not because of a gentleman called Lakshmi Mittal. From practically nowhere, India Inc has quickly emerged in 2005-06 as the third largest investor in the country in terms of the number of ventures floated or acquired. India now ranks just behind the US and Japan, with 76 ventures to its credit. India’s position was No7 last year.
The sharp jump in Indian investment over the last year is noteworthy: “The American projects remain significant, but the scale and way Indian investment has increased is significant,” says Andy Scott, director, International and UK Operations at the Confederation of British Industry. “It’s not just the IT sector, more Indian companies are seeing London as a venue for listings,” Scott told DNA.
Familiarity and language are the main reasons why approximately 600 Indian firms have chosen the UK.
“Up to three years back, most Indians were heading for the US,” explains Sanmit Ahuja, head of India Affairs at the Commonwealth Business Council. “When things got tough in the US, with the outsourcing controversy, Indians turned to the UK. Indians are also heading for Eastern Europe, which is hungry for investment.”
The UK Department of Trade and Industry (UKTI), which monitors inward investment, claimed £1.1 bn had come from India, but according to the Commonwealth Business Council, the real figure is just a quarter of that.
The UKTI argues it is positioning investment in terms of number of projects and jobs created by these new projects and not money, and India comes in at No. 3 with 76 projects out of a total of 1,220 overseas projects for the year. The US is far ahead with 446 projects and Japan comes second with 84 projects.
“India is the third largest investor in the UK only if we look at it in (terms of) the number of projects, not in terms of how much money has been invested. The numbers one and two, US and Japan, are far ahead and India has a long way to go before it can catch up,” says Ahuja.
However, the new jobs created (or old ones safeguarded) by Indian firms are not small by any means. Among foreign investors, Indian companies were the fourth largest in terms of jobs created and safeguarded at 3,972. Only Japanese, US and Canadian companies did better on the job count.
