London: The Lord Mayor of London is on his way to “bang on doors” with the message of free trade and greater two-way capital flows as he begins a week-long visit to India on Saturday.
Alderman Alastair King, who as the 696th Lord Mayor is the global ambassador for the financial hub of the City of London, will be in Mumbai for a wide range of discussions centred around his chosen theme of “Growth Unleashed” for his mayoralty.
Alderman King has meetings scheduled with British government trade officials as well as key Indian banking and financial institutions such as HDFC, State Bank of India (SBI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
"The theme ‘Growth Unleashed’ is to encourage British businesses to get out to extraordinary growth markets such as India, bang on doors and build their businesses,” the Lord Mayor told PTI, ahead of his visit to Mumbai this weekend.
The visit comes ahead of a proposed visit by UK Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds later this month to formally relaunch the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA), stalled by the general election cycle in both countries last year.
“I think the timing is very good. There was a bit of a lull about pushing forward for the Free Trade Agreement, and I'm very pleased to see that Minister Reynolds is off to India as well.
"We can [meanwhile] talk about the opportunities to people involved in financial, professional, legal and maritime services that the Free Trade Agreement will present,” said King.
The Lord Mayor highlighted the added importance of the India-UK trading relationship, worth an estimated GBP 41 billion a year, against the backdrop of trade wars and tariff threats emanating from the US.
“It makes it especially important that we are showing our commitment to increasing trade and there are some extraordinary opportunities that can be devised between the United Kingdom and India. Looking particularly at things like investment into infrastructure, financial services and legal services – all these are remarkable areas of growth,” said King.
“Anything in this climate that frees up capital flows between the United Kingdom and in India presents wonderful opportunities for us,” he added. The City of London Corporation is also keen to see more Indian companies invest in the UK, using London’s world-leading financial services.
“Already many Indians see London as their second home and I do sense it’s a continuing and growing relationship,” said the former businessman, who has previously worked in the infrastructure sector in Mumbai.
“We had a business that was specialising in investing particularly in the container trade area. That's a great story for the next 25 years as India becomes more integrated into world trade and the facilities grow. India certainly presents a long-term growth story,” he noted.
As he returns to Mumbai in his new role, the Lord Mayor’s meetings with financial services firms in India are designed to provide an opportunity to discuss the sector as a key growth area for both economies, with mechanisms to smooth trade around investment protection and business mobility a particular focus.
“We have 678,000 people who work in the Square Mile of the City of London and one of the reasons why we're the number one international financial centre in the world is that we have such an enormous skilled and talented workforce. We need to attract the brightest and the best to come here and work, and that includes the brightest and best from India,” said King.
