Thaindian News

London, June 16 (IANS) The man tipped to be the next prime minister of Britain met with key Europe-based CEOs of Indian companies Monday, and promised to make Britain more business-friendly if his party is elected to power.
David Cameron, leader of the opposition Conservative Party that is leading ruling Labour in a string of opinion polls, met members of the India Group - an alliance of the largest Indian companies in Europe.

Also present at the meeting were Conservative heavy weights Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague and Shadow Business Secretary Ken Clarke and the Europe-based CEOs of Tata, ICICI, Wipro Technologies, Dabur, Polaris Software, Tata Consultancy Services, IFGL Monocon, Godrej and Wockhardt.

The India Group, which conveys the Indian private sector viewpoint to prominent British establishment figures, was told by Cameron that a Conservative government will cut the red tape off current regulations that stop employers from moving around labour within Britain following business acquisitions.

Cameron was well-briefed about India, Vikas Pota, Managing Director of Saffron Chase, the London-based communications company that organized the meeting, told IANS.

“On trade promotion in India, Cameron suggested that some of the Regional Development Agencies across England would be put on notice.

“He recognised that trade promotion in India may also need looking at and the India Group recommended that just as Indian SMEs seemed to be embracing opportunities in the UK, the Government really needed to push British SMEs to do more with India,” Pota said.

“Banks like ICICI had tried linking up with counterparts in the UK to provide trade finance for their clients interested in India, with not much success, which seems a shame given the scale of the opportunity,” he added.