Thought for London - December 2007 / January 2008

Building ties with India

In early November 2007 I had the pleasure of accompanying the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, and a delegation of London ambassadors on a seven day visit to India to promote closer ties with London in business, tourism, education and the creative industries.

The pipeline for new business already looks healthy. More than 400 senior representatives from Indian and UK businesses attended two business seminars focused on creating a global business and fifteen have already expressed an interest in establishing a presence in London.

This month Think London also welcomed back many of our valued Indian clients at our annual Indian Business Reception held at the historic Lords Cricket Ground where we launched Touchdown London.  The event was a huge success with a great turnout from both guests and media, and speeches from the Mayor, and his Excellency Shri Kamalesh Sharma, High Commissioner of India.

Touchdown London is our newly launched incubator service. It is an exciting initiative which has been developed in partnership with Avanta, one of country’s fastest growing serviced office companies, and specially designed for Indian businesses investing in London. I would encourage any Indian company that is considering or is already doing business in Europe, to contact us in London or India for free and confidential advice about setting up or expanding your business in London.

As India is a rising economic superpower and the second largest contributor, by project numbers, to the flow of foreign direct investment projects into the capital it is a key FDI priority for us to continue attracting and retaining Indian companies. Last year was a record year for Indian companies on the London Stock Exchange, raising almost triple* the amount they did in 2005. Our research has revealed four times as many US and Indian companies report their return on investment is significantly higher in London compared to their offices in other European cities.

On a subject a bit closer to home – I am delighted to report that Think London has won, in a competitive tendering process, the right to retain its role as the city's official direct investment agency. This vote of confidence from the LDA gives us the opportunity to maximise Foreign Direct Investment for London both in the run up to - and beyond - 2012.

I am very proud of the successes we have achieved this year and we look forward to another year of challenges and successes in 2008.

Yours sincerely, Michael Charlton, CEO, Think London

If you have any feedback about our comments, please contact media@thinklondon.com

* Indian companies raised a total of US$2.7 billion on AIM and a further $200 million on the Main Market and Professional Securities Market in 2006 - almost triple the previous record of US$1.1 billion raised by Indian companies in 2005