Speech by Hon'ble President of India, Shrimati Pratibha Devisingh Patil, at the Uk-india Business Council Function in London

Your Royal Highness, the Duke of Gloucester.

The Right Honourable Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills,

The Right Honourable Patricia Hewitt, Chair UK-India Business Council,

Mr. Singhania, President, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry,

Shri Ajay Shriram, Co-Leader of the Indian Business Delegation,

Members of the Business delegations of both countries,

I am very happy to be here today at this function organised by the UK-India Business Council and to interact with all those who are actively involved in promoting trade and economic relations between India and the UK.

At the outset, I would like to commend the positive role of the UK-India Business Council. I understand that the regular interaction between UKIBC and its Indian partners has been useful in identifying sectors and areas that hold the promise of enhancing bilateral trade and investment levels. Governments of both countries have benefited from your expertise and your valuable suggestions for furthering business links.

Relations between our two countries are multi-dimensional, based as they are on shared values, commonality of views on many issues and the numerous complementarities that provide several opportunities for building cooperative relations. The conclusion of the Strategic Partnership in 2004 was the culmination of a mutual desire on part of both our two countries to move the relationship to a qualitatively higher level and to work together to find responses to the challenges of our times, as also of the future. Trade and investment does, indeed, form an important component of the India-UK Strategic Partnership.

I am told that it was in 1993 that the two Governments took the initiative of launching the Indo-British Partnership to enhance trade and investment levels between our two countries. The Joint Economic and Trade Committee set up in January 2005 has been active in promoting business links and addressing barriers on both sides that impede growth. I would also urge that the Financial Dialogue Mechanism meets regularly.

We are happy that there has been a significant rise in trade and investment flows between the UK and India in the last decade. While the UK is one of India's most important trade and investment partners, India has become one of the largest investors in the UK. There have been significant investments in IT, life sciences and advanced engineering. The over 600 Indian companies who have opened their offices here, have secured the second highest number of jobs by a foreign employer in the UK. We are presently one of the fastest-growing source of investment into your country. These statistics tell a promising and a satisfying story. Indian companies are also looking at expanding their operations to the EU with a base in the UK.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

India's dynamic growth coupled with its large reservoir of skilled workforce, its commitment to democracy and the rule of law, all taken together make India a very attractive country to do business with. India has achieved levels of European productivity at 20 percent of cost and, continues to remain competitive in labour costs. Global corporations clearly understand the value of leveraging India's advantages. Despite the global economic downturn, we have performed well in 2009. We expect to grow by around 6.5 percent in 2009-10 and recover to 7 to 7.5 per cent next year. Our strong domestic demand and an upwardly mobile middle class population offer tremendous opportunities to the global business community.

We welcome British investments in diverse areas. Our infrastructure financing needs are estimated to be US dollars 550 billion in the next five years. There is huge potential for cooperation in this area mainly through public private partnerships. We have had some success in this and we are taking further steps to streamline the process so that such projects can move faster.

Our capital cost advantage should be a major incentive for companies thinking of a long term presence in India. There is also great advantage in developing collaboration between Small and Medium Enterprises and entrepreneurs of the two countries. I am aware of the great deal of dynamism among small and medium enterprises in Britain and opportunities of collaborating in this sector should be explored.

India has made big strides in IT and Information Technology enabled services (ITeS), a sector that showed remarkable resilience even in the face of a global economic downturn. Continuing on its established track record aggregate revenue from the overall Information Technology enabled services grew by over 33% to reach US $ 64 billion. Industry performance was marked by steady expansion into newer service lines and increased geographic penetration and an unprecedented rise in investments by multinational corporations. The UK is one of the key markets for Indian IT BPO exports.

India has a long and distinguished tradition in science & technology. In the past 4 decades, we have greatly broadened and strengthened our infrastructure and capability. Our growth in recent years has been accompanied by advances in research and development. There is now a reservoir of expertise that is well acquainted with the most modern advances in basic and applied areas and is equipped to make choices between available technologies, to readily absorb new technologies and provide a framework for future national development. This has made us a significant player in a knowledge based economy. Our capabilities in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and health sectors are well-known. Similarly, sectors like environment protection and conservation could also be used by our partners and friends to the benefit of our people.

Before I end, I would like to mention that for any relationship to achieve its full potential, the enhancement in business links have to be correspondingly matched by freer movement of peoples, professionals and business travellers. I hope that both sides will be able to work out a mechanism conducive to the free movement of professionals and businessmen which will be important for sustaining the flourishing business links.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The people of India and the UK are well known for their enterprising spirit and their ability to constantly explore newer areas and fields. I am sure that when they join hands together, they have the capacity to bring success. Indian businesspersons are optimistic about the future prospects of working with the UK. I am confident that the British businesspersons share this assessment. Therefore, I would urge the businesspersons present here to find ways and means to further intensify their engagements so that economic relations between our two countries can be deepened further. In doing so, they would contribute to the strengthening of the overall ties of friendship between our two nations.

Thank You.