Indian firms will adjust to post Brexit UK: Confederation of Indian Industry

By AMIT ROY

THE Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has concluded its annual summit by urging Britain to "be easy towards India" on issues like visas.

Vikram S Kirloskar and Chandrajit Banerjee, president and director general respectively of the CII, spoke to Eastern Eye and said that last Monday's (24) critical report on the UK-India relations from the Commons foreign affairs select committee "had been released in our presence.”

The UK "is falling behind in the global race to engage with a rising India", the report said, stressing that "the UK has failed to give this relationship the attention it deserves.”

In their joint interview with Eastern Eye, Banerjee said: "Britain needs to look at the opportunity that India can bring on to the table for them. The report spoke of a lost opportunity.”

Kirloskar commented: "Indian companies are among the largest employers in the UK, so I hope they are taken seriously.”

The CII, which seems to have established a relationship of trust with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's government over the past five years, will go back and suggest ways in which India could strengthen its already close business ties with the UK.

"Our job is to explain to them (the Indian government) what are the bottlenecks the UK people find, the issues they have said Kirloskar.

"We have to support the government and suggest means to improve the relationship - which is our job. That is the main reason why we are here.

"I can tell you the government is responding. In the last so many years we see the response from the government is much better and much faster than ever before.”

He gave an example of how things had changed in India: "You land at an airport in India. You are through immigration and in your car in fifteen minutes. You can't do that here anymore (in the UK). Even as a VIP, it takes two hours to get out of the airport here.”

Kirloskar is also vice chairman of a company that makes and sells Toyota cars. Banerjee dealt with the question of how India - and especially the 800 Indian companies that have invested in the UK with an eye on Europe - will deal with post-Brexit Britain, and the prospect of a Boris Johnson government.

They appear confident that Indian companies will be able to cope with the changes brought about by Brexit.

"Maybe it will take some time to adjust - and we will adjust”, observed Kirloskar.

Despite the uncertainty, "the UK is still a good place to invest”, he went on. "It's not easy to just say (post Brexit) I will put a new factory somewhere else, build up your skills, build up your infrastructure, build up a customer base...once you do that you have a good strong loyal customer base. You can't just say I am dropping It and going (somewhere else) because there is a problem. I don't think it will affect things too much.”

Banerjee provided reassurance to British business: "Brexit or no Brexit, the UK's importance for India and Indian businesses would remain very much on top."

On this trip, members of the CI' delegation, consisting of senior Indian captains of industry, met their counterparts as well as politicians, and had a lengthy session, in particular, with Graham Smart, the British minister for investment.

Although the CII team values the personal connections built up over many years with the British side, it is confident of being able to cope with the change of personnel ushered in by a Boris government.

"What matters is whether my customer likes me, Kirloskar argued. "Who is in government really does not matter. The work of business is based on quality and price. Not on how well you know a minister.”

Kirloskar, who described himself as "a total free-marketer; said Indian business would continue to flourish so long as it remained competitive by offering good products at the right price.

"Volatility in politics does not change that," he said, although he entered the caveat. "Business will always continue unless some crazy duty structure or something funny comes up. But people find their own level eventually.

"The key to all this is for industry and our side to work on your competitiveness. Once you are competitive and you have a product which is of high quality at the right cost, then you have a chance - that is more important than anything else.”

And he had this to say about some of the 800 UK-based Indian companies: "If you are already selling to Europe and doing a good job of it, why should a customer leave them unless they are doing something which is not good or not of good quality? I am talking of manufacturing, IT or whatever. If I, as a customer, am getting a good service from someone why should I change something just because a country leaves the European Union?"

Banerjee said: “As is normal with a delegation led by the CII president, the issues discussed are at a very macro level. We talk about what is happening in India, we share stories on India.

"Our takeaway is we see the UK be still competitive enough to attract Indian business.”

As for India, Banerjee said: "Today I think India is on the high table of any global discussions, be it global business, be it global geopolitics.”

At the end of their talks, Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), and Banerjee issued an upbeat joint statement: "The economic relationship between India and the UK is in fine fettle. Whether it's the fact the UK has consistently been one of the top five investors into India since 2000 or that our bilateral trade is now worth over £20 billion, it's dear the economic ties between our two countries are going from strength to strength.

"There's no question that our two countries will be close and vital trading partners as the UK charts a new future outside the EU. Firms on both sides of the globe renew their commitment to working together with the governments in Westminster and New Delhi."