Scottish firms eye Gujarat as lucrative investment destination

AHMEDABAD: A slew of Scottish companies will be making a beeline for Gujarat to tap the investment potential and forge business partnerships with prospective firms even as setting up a permanent trade office at Ahmedabad is emerging a strong possibility.

"Tonight we are meeting 120 representatives from different sectors, including Torrent group, L&T, Ecollibrium, Pandit Dindayal Petroleum University to check what opportunities Gujarat is offering," said Country Manager, Scottish Development International (SDI) Mark Dolan.

"For two days we will be having such meetings to check what are the opportunities for Scottish companies and what are the strengths of companies in Gujarat. In September this year a delegation of 20 companies will be visiting Gujarat, when substantial investment and partnerships will take shape," he said.

SDI is a government organisation which helps overseas businesses tap into Scotland's key strengths in innovation, knowledge, high level skills and technology.

"SDI has a strong focus on opportunities for partnership and trade across high growth industries including Energy, Financial services, Gaming and Animation, Electronic technologies, life sciences, Food and Drink and Education," said SDI Head (North & East India) Rooma Kumar Bussi.

If SDI found substantial opportunity in Gujarat they will soon open a permanent trade office at Ahmedabad, she said. "Till that time we will pursue our trade and business relations from Mumbai," Dolan interjected.

Scotland is seriously considering to offer technology know-how to oil and gas, solar energy sector here. "With more than 2000 companies in Scotland active in supply chain, covering industry specialism and niche services, you can imagine the scale of our prominence in global energy arena," he added.