Britain's great roadshow begins in Bangalore

British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer, Tesco, has a Bangalore facility that controls operations in all Tesco stores around the world.

At a Tesco outlet in London, everything one doesn’t see is controlled from Bangalore — the temperature in the freezing cabinets or stock movements, etc.

This is an example of the profound transformation in the UK-India relationship. It has become stronger, wider, and a deeper partnership of equals, based on mutual respect. To strengthen this relationship, the British deputy high commission in Bangalore is holding the ‘GREAT month for technology and innovation’ in the city this month.

Bangalore has a large footprint in technology and innovation, and the UK, with its dominant presence in technology and innovation, is ideally placed to engage with Bangalore and can be its partner of choice. Already, the UK is the third largest investor in India for the period April 2000 to June 2013 with a total FDI inflow of US$ 17.6 billion, equalling 9% of total FDI inflows.

In 2011, the bilateral trade between the UK and India was £16.9 billion.
Therefore, the GREAT campaign is aimed at showcasing the opportunities that Britain offers to Indian businesses in key Indian sectors. The GREAT roadshow will focus on technology and innovation, cultural ties, lifesciences and healthcare, entrepreneurship, knowledge exchange, and business.

The roadshow will comprise a series of niche events held in Bangalore aimed at building and developing the UK’s business brand in the city, translating Indian business interest by bringing in delegations, encourage Indian companies to work with and in the UK, and highlight UK’s capabilities to Indian companies.

Announcing the kick-off on Sunday, British deputy high commissioner Ian Felton said: “Bangalore is one of the future faces of India – hi-tech, cosmopolitan and global in outlook. It is a great place for British-Indian collaboration in science, innovation, trade and cultural relations.”

On his last visit to Bangalore, British high commissioner to India, Sir James Bevan, had observed that the attractions of Bangalore have already brought many successful UK businesses to the city. These companies are not here because of low labour costs. That isn’t Bangalore’s USP any more: its USP is a highly skilled workforce, great technical expertise, relentless innovation, a strong ecosystem and huge scalability.

For example, Rolls Royce recently opened a manufacturing facility here in partnership with HAL. Other big UK aerospace companies like BAE are here too.

ARM from Cambridge, whose microchips are in 95% of the world’s mobile phones, has a Bangalore facility. Many other UK hi-tech and IT companies are here too — Cambridge Silicon, Silicon Radio, NDS, Zenith and Genisys Software.

So are the UK’s leading financial services companies, like HSBC, Barclays and Aviva.  And some of the UK’s top life sciences companies, like GSK and Astra Zeneca. Similarly, there’s a strong pattern of investment from Karnataka into Britain too. Infosys and Wipro are major employers in the UK. Many other companies from Bangalore are now in the UK as well. Mindtree Consulting, Microland, Sasken, ITC Infotech, Symphony Services, Biocon, Avesthagen, Strides Arcolabs, HighTemp Furnaces, JVS, and Dynamatics are some examples.

Some of the roadshow events that will be held in Bangalore are: the UK Oncology Mission in September first week, Cambridge-Oxford Alumni Meet in the third week, luncheon seminar with CXOs (Indian & British) of the city, English high tea session at a popular restaurant in the third week, Bangalore Cambridge Innovation Network engagement, Digital innovations in Healthcare and Biotechnology, Interactive session between the British High Commission Family and Indian universities/institutes.