The surging economy of India will enable it to become one of the three greatest economies in the world within a decade.
MUMBAI: The surging economy of India will enable it to become one of the three greatest economies in the world within a decade along with United States of America and China, a top United Kingdom official said here on Wednesday.
"India is heading towards becoming one of the three economic giants along with USA and China. In next one decade, India will become a G-3 nation from its current status of being a G-8 nation," Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said.
He was speaking on the occasion of signing a City-to-City agreement between a London based media company, Film London and the Film and Television Producers Guild of India for mutual cooperation in sharing ideas and best practices on domestic and international film production and promotion.
Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan was also present.
"This agreement is a real step forward in the relationship between Mumbai and London and the film industries of both India and Britain. Last year, 38 Bollywood films were shot in London. This shows the tremendous prospects future holds for us," Livingstone said.
"I want to be part of India's growth and witness a massive exchange of tourists, foreign exchange and culture happening bothways. Films are the most appropriate way to bring the people together and bridge cultural differences," he said.
The London Mayor assured that every successor of his will visit India at least once in the coming years as "India's growth story cannot be neglected".
Speaking on the occasion, Bachchan said that the global acceptance of Indian films was primarily due to the country's economic growth.
"When a country grows economically, everything else gets global acceptance including its aesthetics, colour, food and cinema. The acceptance of Indian cinema internationally is a reflection of what Indian economy is all about," Bachchan said.
Recollecting an earlier event in which both the actor and the UK Mayor featured, Bachchan said, "I distinctly remember the Mayor's words at a reception held by the Indian High Commission in London, where he stated that 20 years from now, when the economics of the world is discussed, there will be only three people in the conference room - the President of USA, Chinese Premiere and Prime Minister of India."
"I think it is a very valuable observation about where India is going," Bachchan added.
"Prime Minister Gordon Brown, earlier had named himself as Govardhan Brown to only reaffirm his support for the Indian community. This shows the extent to which the bilateral ties are expanding and this signing of agreement for mutual cooperation in cinema only strengthens the bonding further," the actor said.
President of Film and Televison Producers Guild of India, Ronnie Screwala said that while the entire focus was on the big screen, a lot was happenning on small screen (television), animation and gaming spheres.
"There has been a number of joint ventures happening in the post production area also. There has been a considerable amount of Indian films shot in London and we hope that day will also come soon when lot of English films will be shot in Mumbai," Screwala, who also heads the production house United Television, said.
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