UK India Business Council Statement – COVID-19
By Richard Heald
The current uncertainty and advice from both the UK and Indian governments has required the UKIBC to adapt the way we work to ensure that we continue to deliver for our members and clients in the UK-India trade and investment corridor.
The main change is that we are significantly reducing our face-to-face interaction for the time being. Nevertheless, we will continue to pursue our objectives, whether they be for individual clients or collectively on behalf of our members and stakeholders in the UK and Indian Governments.
Our approach over the interim period is as follows:
Hold all of our events digitally. Our interactive format will ensure that our members retain the opportunity to ask questions and interact with our specialist speakers. When the Governments advise that it is safe to do so, we will resume face-to-face roundtables and seminars, as we know how much our members value the opportunity to meet each other and our expert guests.
UKIBC will continue to provide our members with bespoke insights into the market environments in India and the UK. Our sector specialists and advocacy team benefit from unique connections with government, industry bodies, regulators and business leaders. We will continue to gather intelligence from our contacts and share this with our members via personalised emails and our monthly newsletter.
Advocacy Representations. We will continue to make representations to the Government of India, State Governments, and relevant UK Government Departments. We are in the process of setting-up digital interactions with officials, and we will continue with our policy submissions.
Advisory, Launchpad and Business Set-up services. Our expert team continues to be in touch with our network across businesses, governments and partners in the UK and India. Our ability to leverage and engage with this network is unaffected, so we are still able to provide the intelligence and strategy advice you need to enter, scale or expand in India.
The level and nature of UKIBC support is unaffected, except where impacted by travel restrictions. Given these restrictions, we are developing solutions that allow projects to continue on the same timelines and, as a last resort, we can be flexible on project timelines to meet your needs.
Continue to actively showcase our members’ and clients’ successes. Be this via our website, our socio-economic impact micro site, Twitter, LinkedIn, and our newsletter. Our expert marketing and policy team are here to support. Please do follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for updates.
We will continue to monitor the unfolding events in both the UK and India. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to my colleagues and I with any questions at comms@ukibc.com.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Heald
Group Chief Executive
