Rajesh Agrawal leads London trade mission to India

LONDON deputy mayor for business Rajesh Agrawal will lead a trade mission to promote stronger trade and investment links with India next week, a statement said on Friday (10).

Agrawal will be joined by 10 London businesses for the four-day mission which will visit New Delhi and Bengaluru from March 13 to 16, the statement added.

Companies in the delegation are Electric Miles, Expect, Global Nano Network, Guider, Habitat Learn, Inavya Ventures, McLEAR, OneID, Shojin Properties Ltd and Softools.

According to the statement, the trade mission will provide opportunities for these companies to create business partnerships and explore investment and growth opportunities in India.

Delegates will meet representatives from Indian companies including Wipro and HCLTech, as well as industrial giant Tata.

Agrawal will also meet Indian venture capitalists and investors with an interest in expanding to London.

The deputy mayor said that the trade mission will continue to help London companies to maximise business and investment opportunities in India.

He said: “London and India have longstanding cultural and economic links and these latest figures offer further proof that business ties between our two regions continue to grow from strength-to-strength.

“Indian cities rightly look to London as the perfect launchpad to grow their business internationally. London and cities such as Mumbai and Bengaluru share mutual strengths in sectors such as finance, life sciences and technology – creating huge opportunities for business partnerships.

“As one of the world’s fastest growing economies, India is also a major market for ambitious London companies. I am delighted to be joined on my visit to India by some of London’s fastest growing businesses."

Recent data revealed that London is the top European city for Indian foreign direct investment and Indian firms continue to choose the city as a top destination to expand their operations.

According to a research by London & Partners, the UK capital also ranked as the number two city globally for Indian companies looking to grow their footprint internationally.

In the past 10 years London has attracted 174 investment projects from India – significantly more than any other European city and the likes of Singapore (150) and New York (53).

Laura Citron, CEO of London & Partners said, “We continue to receive lots of enquiries from Indian companies looking to setup and expand in London. As India’s digital economy continues to grow, there is particularly strong interest in London from high growth Indian companies in sectors such as fintech, ecommerce and climate tech.

“This trade mission will further strengthen economic ties between London, New Delhi and Bengaluru."

Indian foreign direct investment has led to the creation of 7,853 additional jobs in London. Recently, Wipro, Infosys, upGrad, Ola and Oyo have their expanded their operations in the capital. Between 2012-2022, Mumbai and Bengaluru were the top cities for business investment from India to London.

Vipul Lakhani, director of Softools, said, “I am excited that Softools has been chosen to be one of the participants of the mayor’s International Business Programme trade mission to India.

“We see India as a thriving and exciting market with rich talent, amazing innovation and enormous potential. With the help and support of London & Partners we look forward to forging partnerships to help Indian companies benefit from the speed and simplicity of our zero code application platform.”