Cameron will lead second trade mission to India

Article rank 15 Feb 2013 Business By Dean Nelson in New Delhi

DAVID CAMERON will lead one of Britain's largest trade delegations yet when he arrives in

India next week with more than 100 executives in a campaign to win more orders for UK

firms.

There are expected to be double the number of executives travelling with him than in July

2010 when he led another delegation, including Olympic champions, which Downing Street

described as the largest "in living memory."

It included Foreign Secretary William Hague, Chancellor George Osborne, Lord Coe, Dame

Kelly Holmes and Sir Steve Redgrave.

Next week's delegation is understood to be less glamorous. It will focus on opening up

the world's second-fastest growing economy to Britain's small and medium enterprises.

Many of the CEOs in the 2010 delegation, including Peter Sands of Standard Chartered,

are expected to return but up to half of the executives are believed to be from SMEs.

The scale of the trade delegation reflects both disappointment that the Prime Minister's

2010 visit did not result in as many deals as hoped and a determination to fulfil his pledge

with Indian prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh to double bilateral trade to £22bn by 2015. It

is currently at between £15bn and £16bn. Officials believe they are on track to meet the

target.

Ministers and officials believe much of that growth will come from encouraging more SMEs

to explore trade opportunities in India, rather than to rely on the Continued from B1 prospect

of large infrastructure and defence deals alone.

The initial optimism following the Prime Minister's 2010 visit soon gave way to

disappointment.

A number of British firms were not paid for work on Delhi's Commonwealth Games; British

energy giant Cairn was forced to renegotiate an oil exploration and production deal with the

Indian government; and Vodafone was hit by an unexpected £1.4bn tax demand relating to

its 2007 takeover of mobile phone operator Hutch.

The Indian government's decision last year to award a £7bn contract for multi-role combat

aircraft to Dassault rather than choosing the Typhoon Eurofighter deepened the gloom.

Although major deals, such as BP's £4.6bn acquisition of 30pc of Indian giant Reliance's

gas fields, have dominated the headlines, smaller British companies have been making

progress in education, training and engineering.

Science and technology collaborations have grown from £1m to £100m over the past

three years.

The British Council has trained a million English language teachers in India in preparation

for an expected boom in the country's education sector.

Mark Runacres, former deputy British High Commissioner and now secretary of Delhi's

British Business Group, cited the example of A4E, which has won Indian government contracts

to train poor labourers for skilled jobs in hospitality, health care, retail and construction.

He also said UK services group Serco had won bus operator contracts in Gujarat.

Adrian Mutton, founder of Sannam S4, a company set up in India in 2008 to help British

firms find new markets and establish operations in India, said he was helping a consortium of

32 Further Education Colleges to negotiate joint ventures to bring vocational training for

plumbers, electricians, engineers, and carpenters to help India plug its 500m people 'skills

gap.'

Turbo - charged Rolls-Royce powers into its 10th year of growthBusiness - Fri, 15 Feb 2013

Call to arms Back British firms to take on drinks giantsBusiness - Fri, 15 Feb 2013

An all-American brand with global appealBusiness - Fri, 15 Feb 2013

Also Recommended