The clouds of uncertainty surrounding the British economy in general and London in particular are expected to melt away as the region is all set to formally depart the European Union on Friday, January 31, as per London & Partners, the official promotional agency of London.
Julie Chappell, Managing Director, International Markets at London & Partners, told The Hindu that the uncertainty over Brexit was going away and trade negotiations had already begun.
“Day-by-day, the uncertainty is slowly going away, things are becoming more clearer and looking quite bright. The government has already started taking new initiatives to boost business sentiments, investments and flow of talent,’’ she said.
As part of this, a couple of days ago, the U.K. Government has introduced a Fast Track Global Talent Visa with a view to attract mathematicians, scientists, engineers, data experts and deep-tech specialists.
As per Ms. Chappell, a post-Brexit business environment is expected to attract better talent, more number of foreign students, tourists, investors and business partners from India to London.
U.K. currently has 842 Indian companies and 53% of these firms are in London. Interestingly, these Indian companies that employ 1,5,000 people contribute £50 billion annualy to the British exchequer.
“Between 2009 and 2019, we have had 126 Indian companies setting up business in London and cumulatively they made an investment of £2.77 billion, with average investment of £22 million each.’’
Some 16 Indian firms have set up their business in London in the first nine months of the fiscal. “We have a strong pipeline. We are witnessing increased interests among small and medium companies even from secondary towns in India. In fact, these numbers getting almost on par with the U.S., which traditionally has been our biggest investor,’’ she said.
On the tourism front, Ms. Chappell said, some 5,00,000 Indians were expected to visit London a year by 2025. Some 6,00,000 Indian-origin people were there in the U.K. and therefore, a majority of these visits would be linked to visiting family and friends and attending weddings.
According to her, U.K. saw the biggest growth of international students from India. “We witnessed a 35% jump in the number of Indian students, thanks to the new study visa. Many students prefer us for engineering, medical, creative learning and deep tech studies because we have a strong research base and flow availability,’’ Ms. Chappell added.
