“In India, FDI in retail is looked as a mere announcement, back in U.K. we are looking at it as something that is going to happen,” said Alpesh Patel, British Government Dealmaker for India, Global Entrepreneur Programme.
Mr. Patel, who was addressing a media roundtable here on Monday, said that the recent wave of reforms was viewed very positively in the United Kingdom, with many companies showing interest.
“I think there are quite a few firms that are keen on tapping into the Indian market, it is a positive step,” said Mr. Patel, who also serves as the Director, U.K.-India Business Council.
Pointing out that the U.K. Government was definitely not anti-offshoring, he said that it believed businesses should do what was in their best interests.
“Even under the previous Labour administration, this view was very clear. U.K. is nothing like America in that respect. Margaret Thatcher who once said ‘the business of government is not the government of business’ sums it up well,” said Mr. Patel.
Talking about Indian companies which set up shops outside the country, Mr. Patel said that U.K. still remained the beachhead for investment in Europe, despite competition from Germany.
“When Indian entrepreneurs come to the U.K. to go global, which is what we help them do, the advantages they get are language, ease of doing businesses, and a currency which isn’t the euro. This all doesn’t hold true for Germany which mainly attracts investments in niche areas,” he said.
“Innovation in Indian technology companies is coming from emerging areas such as cyber-security and cloud,” he added.
