Sunday, Jul 16, 2006
Corporate - Overseas Investments
Industry & Economy - Foreign Trade
'Big investments by Indian cos in UK' http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/07/16/stories/2006071603260500.htm
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More companies listed on LSE than on NYSE & Nasdaq: British official
Kolkata , July 15
Pointing out that Indian foreign investment projects in the UK (during 2005-06) have increased by a "staggering 110 per cent", Mr Simon Wilson, British Deputy High Commissioner to Eastern India, said the rate at which the flow of investment was growing amply reflected the financial strengths of Indian industry today.
(According to the latest UK Annual Report on inward investments, during 2005-06, the country recorded a total of some 76 investment projects from India. Indian businesses, with investments of around �1.02 billion into the UK, have made India as the third largest investor in the UK globally, and second largest from the Asia-Pacific region, after Japan.)
Speaking at an interactive session on "Enhancing Indo-British business prospects" organised by the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Mr Wilson said: "there are more Indian companies listed on the London Stock Exchange than on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq combined."
Two-way investments
Mr Wilson said in order to lift two-way investments to greater heights, a new institutional mechanism in the form of JETCO (Joint Economic and Trade Commission) has been put in place. Besides JETCO, which meets at the levels of Minister of Commerce & Industry periodically to agree on ways to remove barriers to investment and improve trade flows, a number of working groups have also been established in areas such as agribusiness, healthcare, high technology, infrastructure and legal services.
A new phase driving private interaction between India and the UK, he informed, was the establishment of Indo British Partnership Network in the UK and the creation of IBP boards in both countries - under Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal of Bharti Enterprises in India, and Lord Bilimoria of Cobra Group in the UK.
He said the next meeting of the IBP board was scheduled in London later this month.
On prospects in eastern India, Mr Wilson said the recent announcements of large investment plans by big Indian corporate groups "echo our positive outlook about the economic and business prospects in this region".
Among the recent UK investments in eastern India are by Vesuvius India, HSBC and Newby Teas, besides the proposed new outlet by Marks & Spencers in Kolkata sometime next month.
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