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Page 33


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INDIA RETAIL SECTOR TO GROW TO £352 BILLION BY 2014


(...Continued from page 31) the opportunities are obvious. The emerging economies are home to some of the biggest state equity investors and buyers of sovereign debt, Hague noted, and are “essential to our ability to tackle global rebalancing, trade liberalisation and broader challenges such as nuclear proliferation and climate change.”

When it came to specifics, Hague spoke about strengthening and broadening “the science and technology network in our embassies across the world, so that we help maintain the world-class science and engineering base necessary to transform the UK into Europe’s leading high-tech exporter and stay at the cutting edge of science and innovation.”

FORWARD FACING

This dovetails with the existing work of UK Trade & Investment around the world – but, with this new urgency, it appears international trade is set to be in the headlines for some time to come.

On a domestic level, another clear sign of intent regarding the increased commercialisation of the Foreign Office is the move by Simon Fraser, the most senior civil servant at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, back to the Foreign Office.

The business trade delegation to India in July was the clearest sign yet that the Coalition Government is not just talking a good game. The Prime Minister was accompanied on the twoday trip by several ministers, including the Chancellor, Foreign Secretary and Secretary of State for Business, and more than 60 business leaders from some of the UK’s best-known companies.

So why India, and why now? Taking the Indian retail sector alone, it is clear that the potential is enormous, albeit with real concerns in terms of market access and equitable taxation rates. Worth around £227 billion, it is forecast to grow to £352 billion by 2014. The opportunities for UK retailers and producers are vast.

Asked by one interviewer what the UK could bring to the table in terms of trade with India, the Prime Minister outlined the UK’s strengths: excellent universities, a strong science base, a big defence industry and a large financial sector. For Indian firms investing in the UK, he said: “We have the English language, we have a time zone between America and Asia, we have access to European markets, we have a highly trained workforce and we are one of the most open and welcoming economies. Investing in Britain is extremely straightforward compared with almost any other country.”

READY RESULTS

The trip itself produced several announcements of deals between UK firms and their Indian counterparts.

London-based architects firm Benoy has won three major projects (two in Bangalore and one in Mumbai) worth more than £1.6 million. In a multi-million pound deal, Indian firm Rancore Technologies selected Bathbased picoChip’s technology for the development of base stations to be used in 4G mobile broadband networks in India and around the world. And Griffon Hoverwork, a Southampton-based manufacturer, won a £34 million contract to sell hovercraft to the Indian coastguard.

And while these announcements are great news for the companies concerned, (Continued on page 34...)

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