9th - 12th March 2010
The Duke of York visits India to further UK trade links
This was the third visit by The Duke of York to India since 2006 as the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment. It included 25 official engagements ranging across Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.
His Royal Highness’s official visit came at an opportune time. India’s economy was among the first in the world to recover from the global downturn, growing by 6.7% in 2009. Following the sharp withdrawals of 2009, international capital is now flowing back into India, reflecting investor optimism about future growth prospects. The UK is well-placed to benefit from this; bilateral trade between the UK and India was worth £12.6bn in 2009. The UK is the biggest European investor in India, and the fourth largest globally. There is significant opportunity to improve further on these figures.
The Duke of York took advantage of his visit to further these trade links by holding discussions with the leading Indian conglomerates. For example, he met with The Essar Group, which is in the process of a $3bn listing on the London Stock Exchange, making it India’s largest overseas listing. He discussed the expansion plans of Tata Motors, owners of Jaguar Land Rover. He also visited the business process outsourcing offices of British bank HSBC and met with Religare (acquirers of Hichens Harrison, the UK’s oldest broking firm).
His Royal Highness visited the site of the new Delhi International Airport, which is being constructed with support from British consultants. In Kolkata he also visited Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) who supply to the Indian Navy, again with various British collaborations.
As the political arena will also shape economic growth, The Duke of York called on Mr Anand Sharma, the Minister for Commerce and Industry. They discussed the best ways to stimulate further UK-India collaboration, with issues ranging from market access to entry visas.
In addition, His Royal Highness was the guest of honour at the Queen’s Birthday Party and delivered the keynote speech at a seminar of the Confederation of Indian Industry in Kolkata. In this speech, The Duke highlighted the importance of growing the low carbon economy and the global leadership of many UK firms in this field.
