UK hopes India won’t cancel Agusta deal

LONDON: The British government has said that it does not have much information on the AgustaWestland case. Speaking to Indian media, UK’s minister for India, Hugo Swire, said, “to my knowledge, India or Italy has not asked the UK for any further information.


Clearly something went wrong in the procurement process, but the product is excellent, the best for the job, and I don’t believe the Indian government will cancel the order.” AgustaWestland helicopters are manufactured in the UK at a wholly-owned subsidiary unit of Italy’s Finmeccanica.

Any changes in the order would affect British jobs. A British national was cited as the key dealmaker in the bribery scandal. Swire said his government was committed to help while adding that it was the Italian government which was ideally placed to answer any issues India has on the helicopter deal.

Swire, who visited India for the first time with PM David Cameron last month, said that both governments agreed to work further on the Mumbai Bangalore industrial corridor, in which UK wants to take on a leading role like Japan in the Mumbai-Delhi industrial corridor.

“The concept has been given birth to, and both parents are hoping it will work out, though it is still in its infancy.” Swire said that India and UK have made major progress in cooperating on anti-terrorist activities, most importantly on cyber terrorism, “which is new threat to the world.”

Speaking on Britain’s seemingly uncertain role in EU, Swire said that the UK government’s message to India and Indian investors is that Britain saw its future within EU, but not in euro.

“We are committed to concentrating on the single market; we hope to influence the direction of political and fiscal consolidation within the Eurozone,” he said. UK has announced a referendum in 2017 (if Conservatives return to power) if it cannot renegotiate its position within the European Union — a move that has been widely seen as isolating UK within EU.