IT, finance holds huge trade potential for India, UK
Tuesday, 09 September 2003, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Financial services and new economy sectors like IT and biotechnology hold huge potential for fostering trade relations between India and Britain, says Alderman Gavyn Arthur, Lord Mayor of the City of London. India can also benefit from experiences of Britain in a wide spectrum of economic areas, including privatisation of public sectors undertakings, he said. "There is a will to cooperate as far as businesses are concerned in both the countries. We welcome as much trade with India as possible," Arthur, who is on a 10-day visit to India, told IANS in an exclusive interview. As head of the corporation of London, the lord mayor has a much wider business role -- working for Britain as a whole, supporting and promoting the City of London, the world's leading international financial centre, both at home and abroad. This includes representing the country's financial and business services both at home and overseas, promoting London and generally supporting the interests of the British industry. Arthur is the ambassador and spokesman for the financial services based not just in London but also in Britain. "London is the largest financial centre in the world. Equally on the other side is India that is a growing economic powerhouse and a future global economic superpower," Arthur said. "So put the two together and you will rightly have a superb opportunity for both to cooperate more in the future." According to Arthur, opportunity for partnership between companies and financial institutions in India and Britain in IT and biotechnology sectors is enormous. "India has most extraordinary expertise in the field of IT and biotechnology. Biotech is enormously successful in Britain and more money is being spent on research in this field," he said. Some 450 Indian companies now have their bases in London. The number has almost doubled since 2001. A huge number of the Indian companies are in the IT industry. Arthur said Britain could offer India its expertise in a number of areas to help achieve higher growth. "We have enormous expertise in the field of privatisation. We started much earlier than any other country. We learnt by our mistakes. We believe we have the expertise in this field that are unparalleled." Arthur, however, said India needed to speed up the process of liberalising trade to attract large-scale investments from overseas companies. "You need to liberalise services in particular whether it is legal or life and general insurance services so that investment can come into the country more freely. "We have an investment pool of $3 trillion in the city of London. It's absolutely a staggering sum. Even so, that pool of money is not large enough to meet the need of all the countries that seek investments," he said. "Investment goes where it is easy to go where it is comfortable. I have no doubt that investors would like to invest in India, which is a country which over the last 12 years has emerged as very important player in the world economy." On the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations beginning Wednesday, Arthur said the outcome of the talks would be very crucial for the developing economies. "The outcome of the WTO negotiations is crucial for global trade. The outcome will also be very important for emerging and growing economies. It is going to be very important for India," he said. Trade ministers from 146 countries will discuss a wide range of trade liberalisation issues, including the contentious subjected of subsidies in the agricultural sector, in Cancun, Mexico from Wednesday. India is expected to aggressively push developed economies like the U.S. and European Union to slash farm subsidies, which New Delhi complains undercut its export opportunities. "Britain's policy has always been that there must be a reduction in subsidies in agriculture prices in the European union. "It's wrong in my view that we should have subsidy that protect farmers particularly in some European countries. Britain is one of those who argue very strongly indeed for the possible removal of those subsidies," said Arthur. "But it is up to each country and each group of countries to work towards liberalisation."
Source: IANS
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