India/UK - Creating new opportunities for Trade and Investment.

Last week I co-led a delegation of 12 inspiring scale up leaders to Mumbai and Bangalore, with Anna Carson-Parker , to connect them to new business opportunities, engage Indian businesses looking to do business in the UK and promote London to local media (7 interviews in total). We immersed ourselves in the Indian business community and understood why it is called the "living bridge".

This article outlines the rationale for the visit and the lessons we learnt, Do leave your comments below if you agree with some of these reflections or have different perspectives. Thank you.

India/UK - a living bridge?

This analogy is used frequently. India and UK have had a deep trade and investment relationship for centuries. We share the same language and the same legal infrastructure. There are 971 Indian companies in the UK (Grant Thornton tracker 2024) with combined revenues of ￡68 billion, employing 118,430 people. 505 of these businesses are based in London.

To further demonstrate the importance of India as an investor into the UK, the Department for Business and Trade recently published a report showing that India has retained its position as the second largest FDI investor into the UK for the fifth year in a row. Last year, our London & Partners India team helped over 31 new Indian companies expand into London, the largest share of all our FDI into our capital city.

Why are so many Indian companies expanding into London?

• to access new customers
• ease of doing business - you can get up to five meetings with decision makers in a single day.
• to access the global talent pool in London. Home to four of the world's top universities and Indian students are the largest pool of international students in London.
• to access funding with London ranked third on the global stage and number one in Europe for VC investments in technology.

What about India as a market for UK tech scale ups?

There are 667 British companies in India with a turnover of approximately over ￡50 billion and employing 523,460 people. Mumbai alone accounts for hosting 36% of UK companies in India with Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai emerging as major hubs. Mumbai also ranks #1 as an emerging ecosystem and particularly strong in areas of performance, funding, experience and talent. In 2024 seven more London companies set up in India.

We have taken out two delegations to India this year, one with creative tech companies and last week with Enterprise and Fintech companies. The India market is no longer purely an outsourcing market. It has invested in it's infrastructure and innovation and is becoming a very popular market for UK businesses.

What's involved in a Trade Mission?

Trade mission's take months of planning. Thanks to Hemin Bharucha , Abhilasha Malik , Burzin Luth Delzad Kapadia Divya Bajaj Neha Karnad Gayathri Ramkumar for all your hard work in curating such high quality meetings and guest lists.

Our programme last week included:

• Round table meetings with Banks, regulators, enterprise companies - learning about opportunities to do business/collaborate.
• Receptions in both cities to connect with key business leaders in the local ecosystems, investors, potential partners and tech businesses.
• A few extra highlights including a behind the scenes tour of the National Stock Exchange (including the honour of ringing the bell).
• An opportunity for the delegation to get to know each other and share learnings and ambitions over an Indian Thali.
• Connections to our friends at the High Commission including His Majesty's Trade Commissioner Harjinder Kang and Chandru Iyer , his Majesty's Deputy Trade Commissioner (FDI) and Deputy High Commissioner in Bangalore.

Delegates on the mission:

Raj Kaur Khaira , AutogenAI | Naveen Chopra Builder.ai | Matthew Paver | Iain Case |DIGISEQ Limited | Manish Vara ekko | Valeria Vahorovska Fondy | Kebbie Sebastian Merge

Tai Alegbe| Igor Gorbatsevich Shojin | Ben Mekie The Acuity Method | Rauan Khassan TradingView | Tendie Moyo (Tapera) Velexa | Jonathan Munday Coutts

I also had the honour of speaking to an audience of MBA students in Bangalore - thanks to Divya Bajaj for setting this up. These are the future leaders and asked insightful questions about tourism and business.

What did we learn?

• Do your homework before entering the India market and consider each India state differently.
• Consider any regulation that may be required for your business.
• Talk to other UK entrepreneurs who have already entered the India market successfully (Credit Enable and Tide to mention just two)
• Be prepared to visit the market frequently to build your networks and follow up on conversations.
• Consider finding a partner to help you accelerate your business development in such a large market.
• Consider your pricing for this market and take advice.
• In Mumbai allow time to get to meetings as traffic is busy.

So what's next?

One thing we encourage all our business leaders on the trade mission to do is follow up promptly and arrange a future visit. It is critical to show the commitment especially when looking to secure business deals or partnerships. This might sound obvious but it is always worth highlighting.

There is also much anticipation around a potential Free Trade Agreement between our two markets. With almost 1.4 billion people, India is by far the largest market the UK has committed to negotiating a trade deal with to date.

What are the key elements of any new deal?

• Tariff reductions - in key sectors such as textiles, automobiles, agricultural products and spirits.
• Market access - greater access for Indian services in the UK, particularly in IT, healthcare, financial services and legal services.
• Mobility provisions - facilitating easier work and study opportunities
• Digital economy and IP - enhanced collaboration in the digital economy
• Sustainability and Trade - with commitments to environmental standards
• Investment Protection - and dispute resolution.

We will continue to help businesses on both sides of the "living bridge" to connect, access opportunities and understand the respective markets. It is important that we work in collaboration with others to drive greater levels of Trade & Investment at this exciting time for innovation and growth in both markets.

If you want to join us on a future Trade Mission to India or a different international market, do get in touch via Grow London Global - Home

Thank you.