Peter Mileham - President of the British Chambers of Commerce

Having recently returned from India as part of Digby, Lord Jones of Birmingham's business delegation,  this is an excellent opportunity for me to use my first British Chambers of Commerce blog to brief businesses on the main focus of that trip - the CII Summit at Gurgaon. I hope it provides some food for thought.

Gurgaon does not look particularly impressive. It often resembles a building site and has major works on all the roads, but it is clearly an area of considerable investment and is in fact the most prosperous area in the country. The region of Haryana, in which Gurgaon sits, is currently witnessing vast development and acts as a major headquarters for the information technology sector and the automobile industry.

The Summit itself was arranged in a series of marquees with an exhibition arena and a staggering 1,200 attending delegates – perhaps a reflection of the interest that currently exists in India. After several presentations, including one from the Chief Minister for Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and the Prime Minister of Hungary, I joined an official meeting with the Chief Minister where Lord Jones gave a speech.

In his speech, Lord Jones raised some concerns about regulation in India and the fact that professional Indian lawyers can operate in the UK but this is not the case for British lawyers wanting to practise in India. This is a subject I discussed with the UK Law Society and agreed that I would seek the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s view on this disparity. My initial thoughts are whether Chambers of Commerce and our numerous members working in the legal world could add weight to a campaign, which in the long run, would serve to help UK businesses looking to invest in India, not to mention those already established there.

Following the Chief Minister’s official function, I was invited for an audience with the First Minister, who is soon to visit London and suggests Chambers of Commerce should meet with him to discuss small and medium sized business investment in India and to dispel any misplaced myths about starting up in the country.

Much was achieved in a busy programme – too much to fit into this small space. However, upon leaving India I was left with the distinct impression that the Indian hype we often hear about in the UK is worth businesses exploring further. If your business is well prepared and you have done your research, the opportunities there seem very genuine. Again, I would recommend to businesses thinking about exporting to India that they get involved in an export marketing research scheme or an export communications review. Both initiatives are very effective, excellent value for money and are professionally run by the British Chambers of Commerce on behalf of UKTI.