THE LORD MAYOR of London, Alderman Alastair King, is set to visit India for a week starting Saturday, aiming to promote free trade and capital flows between the two countries.
King, who serves as the global ambassador for the City of London, will be in Mumbai to discuss trade and investment under his mayoral theme, “Growth Unleashed.”
During his visit, King will meet British government trade officials and key Indian banking and financial institutions, including HDFC, State Bank of India (SBI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
He emphasised the need for British businesses to engage with high-growth markets like India.
“The theme ‘Growth Unleashed’ is to encourage British businesses to get out to extraordinary growth markets such as India, bang on doors and build their businesses,” King told PTI ahead of his visit.
The trip comes ahead of UK Business and trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds’ proposed visit to India later this month to formally relaunch negotiations on the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which was stalled due to elections in both countries.
“I think the timing is very good. There was a bit of a lull in relation to pushing forward for the Free Trade Agreement, and I'm very pleased to see that Minister Reynolds is off to India as well,” King said.
“We can [meanwhile] talk about the opportunities to people involved in financial, professional, legal and maritime services that the Free Trade Agreement will present.”
King highlighted the India-UK trading relationship, which is valued at an estimated GBP 41 billion a year. He said this relationship is particularly important given ongoing global trade uncertainties.
“It makes it especially important that we are showing our commitment to increasing trade, and there are some extraordinary opportunities that can be devised between the United Kingdom and India,” he said.
“Looking particularly at things like investment into infrastructure, financial services and legal services – all these are remarkable areas of growth.”
The City of London Corporation is also looking to attract more Indian companies to invest in the UK, leveraging London’s financial services.
“Already many Indians see London as their second home, and I do sense it's a continuing and growing relationship,” King said.
Having worked in Mumbai’s infrastructure sector in the past, he noted India's long-term growth potential.
“We had a business that was specialising in investing particularly in the container trade area. That's a great story for the next 25 years as India becomes more integrated into world trade and the facilities grow,” he said.
As part of his visit, King will discuss financial services as a key growth area for both economies. His meetings will focus on easing trade mechanisms, including investment protection and business mobility.
“We have 678,000 people who work in the Square Mile of the City of London, and one of the reasons why we're the number one international financial centre in the world is that we have such an enormous skilled and talented workforce,” he said.
“We need to attract the brightest and the best to come here and work, and that includes the brightest and best from India.”
(With inputs from PTI)
Damian Talbot
Nirmala Sitharaman speaks at the India-UK Investor Roundtable in London last Wednesday (9). On the panel were India’s department of economic affairs secretary Ajay Seth and Kotak Mahindra Bank founder Uday Kotak
Sitharaman with Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves
Sitharaman with Jonathan Reynolds 
Sitharaman with Reynolds, Alastair King, India’s high commissioner Vikram Doraiswami and other delegates