The High Commission of India in London has created a flagship programme – the Access India Programme (AIP) in the UK
Access India, a newly launched market entry support programme is the first of its kind for supporting UK businesses access the Make in India initiative of the Government of India. The programme will solely focus on providing support to small and medium UK enterprises.
Make in India was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 September 2014. It is designed to facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skill development, protect intellectual property and build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure; with a focus on 25 sectors of the economy.
Investors from the UK have responded positively to the “Make in India” initiative which will help in building greater synergies with UK’s robust manufacturing industry and experience in sustainable development, innovation and skills, and the new opportunities available in India.
Bilateral investment and trade between both the countries has been increasing considerably. However, the focus has been on large companies and multinationals. If we are to give an impetus to our bilateral engagement, we need to focus on the SME sector.
India and UK remain committed to working together to substantially increase trade and investment opportunities. During the visit of Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister to the UK during November 12-14, 2015, and again during the visit of the Prime Minister of UK to India from November 6-8, 2016, the Prime Ministers of both the countries agreed to continue working towards strong, sustainable and balanced growth, and agreed on the importance of structural reforms and pursuing credible fiscal policies in order to raise living standards
Under the Access India Programme, we seek to identify high-potential UK SME companies and assist them in establishing themselves in India. For these companies, the programme will provide a detailed programme of activity, mentoring, networking opportunities and market entry support services. These services could be in areas including strategy advisory, operational market entry support, tax & legal support, financial services, project financing, M&A, location services, technology collaboration, facilitation of approvals from central and state agencies will be provided.
Through this programme we will focus on the UK SMEs that possess high-end technologies and innovative products. These companies not only require the necessary market information, but also information on the business processes involved in market entry. An intensive and sustained effort to engage them, going beyond publicity and information campaigns can significantly help in mobilising these SMEs to Make in India.
For more information please visit www.accessindiauk.com and follow Access India on Twitter here