UK willing to do more biz with India

NEW DELHI: British Prime Minister David Cameron discussed possibilities of increasing co-operation between Indian and British firms in key sectors, such as education and infrastructure, in his meeting with industrialists in the Capital on Thursday.

The British PM, who is leading a business delegation on his two-day India visit, spoke of refreshing the relationship between the two countries and creating a stronger bond, CII president Hari Bhartia told ET.

“UK is willing to do more business with India and the PM’s visit is directed towards finding new ways to do so,” he said.

Ficci president and Bharti Group’s Rajan Mittal, JK Paper managing director Harsh Pati Singhania, Modi Enterprises’ chief K K Modi, Fortis Healthcare managing director Shivinder Singh, Max India chairman Analjit Singh and HSBC India country head Naina Lal Kidwai were among those who attended the meeting.

British finance minister George Osborne and Britain’s business secretary Vince Cable were also present in the meeting that was addressed by Indian commerce minister Anand Sharma besides HRD minister Kapil Sibal and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

Earlier in the day, Mr Cable announced several deals between Indian and British companies, worth millions of pounds. These include three projects won by a London-based architecture firm Benoy in Bangalore and Mumbai besides Bath-based picoChip’s deal with Rancore Technologies for development of 4G basestations for the rollout in India’s next-generation networks.

Griffon Hoverwork, a Southampton-based manufacturer, won a £34 million contract to sell hovercraft to the Indian coastguard while London-based business processing firm Xchanging has signed a MoU with the state government of Karnataka to build a 2,000 seat BPO centre on a five-acre site in a new special economic zone.