Cable hails new Indian trade links

New export deals worth more than £740 million herald an era of closer partnership between India and the UK, Business Secretary Vince Cable has claimed.

Speaking at an investment conference as a UK trade delegation wrapped up its mission to the south Asian country - widely tipped to be named the fastest-growing economy in the world later this year - Dr Cable said the Government was excited by the benefits such cooperation could bring.

“India is a country where you don’t have to be a multinational to succeed,” he explained. “We have superb UK companies operating here in partnership with Indian firms, and I would encourage more UK firms to explore the opportunities here.”

No fewer than seven major companies used the trip to announce lucrative agreements, all of which will support jobs in the UK. They included:

• BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce, who signed a joint £700m deal to supply 57 Hawk Trainer aircraft.

• Griffon Hoverwork, which announced a £34m contract with the Indian coastguard for the manufacture of 12 hovercraft – the largest ever order of its kind in the UK.

• Benoy architects, who will design a luxury residential development in Banglaore and oversee the High Street Phoenix Mumbai regeneration project for a fee of £1.6m.

• Telecoms company picoChip, who formalised a multi-million pound deal with Rancore Technologies to develop cutting-edge base stations for use in 4G mobile phones – a contract that will see the UK firm double its 150-person workforce during the next four years.

• London-based business services company Xchanging, which will build a 2,000 seat processing centre in Shimoga.

Following on from a similar move by the US, the Government also announced plans to allow the export of civil nuclear technology to India, a decision sure to benefit the UK’s world-class nuclear energy companies.

© Press Association 2010