India now among top investors in UK

Tuesday, 10 October 2006, 19:30 IST
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London: The "most drastic new trend" in India-Britain business relations is the recent growth of Indian companies as investors in the UK, according to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Figures compiled by the apex body of Indian business and industry complement those published last week by consultants Ernst & Young that show that India has become one of the largest investors in the UK. In a background paper compiled for the Indo-UK Investment Summit Tuesday, FICCI noted that Indian companies were increasingly looking at Britain as a major investment destination. The paper said: "Besides the market potential of UK, Indian companies want to make UK as a base for further expansion in EU. Indian companies are also increasingly investing abroad to gain access to important markets like EU and US. "While liberal policies for overseas investment have facilitated this trend recently, there are other reasons also fuelling this trend. Some Indian companies have consolidated their positions in domestic market and now want to venture abroad for new challenges and opportunities. "These investments are spread over a number of sectors like IT, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, banking, textiles, engineering, automotive, oil and gas, education etc". According to the paper, gross outward investment from India into the UK by Indian companies or their subsidiaries had risen from an average of 14 million pounds per annum before 1995 to 1.3 billion pounds in 2004. It noted that the year 2004 was the first year when gross investment in the UK by Indian companies exceeded the UK's outward investment in India. In 2004, India was the second most important source of investment into London - USA being the first. "Indian direct investment in JVs and wholly owned subsidiaries in UK is to the tune of $802 million for the period April 1996 to February 2006, which is the 6th highest Indian investment abroad. "In 2004-05, Indian investment in UK rose by 30 per cent as Indian companies invested in 36 new projects in the year compared to 28 in 2003-04. Investments from India in the UK have been rising for the last few years up from 21 projects in 2000-01". Some major investments by Indian companies in the UK are: * Reliance Infocomm's acquisition of Flag Telecom ($207 million) * Wockhardt's acquisition of CP Pharmaceuticals (10.85 million pounds) * Nicholas Piramal's acquisition of Rhodia Organique Fine Ltd ($14 million) * Satyam's acquisition of Citisoft's (39 million pounds) * Nicholas Piramal's acquisition of UK's Avecia Pharmaceuticals (9.5 million pounds) * Apeejay's acquisition of Premier Foods' tea business * TCS's service capabilities with Pearl BPO Venture * Bangalore-based auto component manufacturer, Suprajit Engineering's acquisition of the UK-based automotive cable manufacturer CTP Gills Cables * Bangalore-based mid-sized IT Products Company, Subex Systems' acquisition of the UK-based telecom products company Azure Solutions for $140 million. * Avestha Gengraine Technologies Pvt Ltd - first Indian biotech company in the UK. * Ceramed Engineers Pvt. Ltd acquired Acton Finishing Ltd * HCL Technologies BPO services acquired 90 percent stake in Apollo Contact Centre in Belfast.
Source: IANS