UK India Business Council: Advocating Business Success in 2021
This report outlines the breadth of advocacy work that the UKIBC has delivered in the last twelve months and sets out our objectives and plans for 2021.
The UK and India are important economic partners, and the mutually beneficial relationship is only growing stronger. India is projected to become the world’s third largest economy by 2030. This provides enormous opportunities to UK business, aided by India’s growing consumption, investment, and production and service markets.
India is a complex market with significant challenges, but progress is being made. In the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings, India has climbed from 130th in 2016 to 63rd in the most recent rankings of 2019. This increase comes on the back of reforms that have made paying tax, accessing credit and trading across borders quicker and easier. At the same time, new measures related to India’s self-reliant mission are perhaps making it harder to export and invest in India. Nonetheless, UKIBC’s own insight, from our networks, contacts, meetings, surveys and events have found that most UK companies already doing business in India plan on deepening their engagement and business activity.
Many UK businesses of all sizes are already succeeding in India. The UK is currently the sixth largest investor in India, with cumulative inflow of USD 29.5 billion since 2001. FDI from the UK is responsible for more than 400,000 direct jobs in India and over 800,000 indirectly. This is a reciprocal relationship with over 840 Indian businesses operating in the UK, employing over 100,000 people.
Our extensive policy and advocacy efforts cover multiple sectors, from higher education to food and drink to healthcare and others between.
Many of our successes are the result of years of advocacy work with stakeholders at all levels of Government in both the UK and India. In this, UKIBC 2021 Advocacy Report we highlight some of the key areas where the UKIBC has achieved advocacy wins, representing significant progress that has helped to advance the UK-India trade and investment relationship. We then outline our ongoing advocacy work in 2021.
