UK exports to India increase 20pc on back of trade push Daily Telegraph 09-Dec-13

:UK exports to India increase 20pc on back of trade push 

Daily Telegraph 09-Dec-13 

British companies have responded to the government’s drive to double exports to India with a 20pc jump in shipments so far this year. 

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, will highlight the performance on Monday, at the start of a four-day trade visit with 25 British companies to look at business opportunities in fast-growing regional cites across India. The mission is the fourth headed by Mr Cable since he was effectively given responsibility by David Cameron to double Britain’s trade with India by 2015. 

“We have always had a special relationship between our countries and I am keen to push business collaboration much further,” said Mr Cable. 

The Prime Minister is understood to feel that the presence of senior government ministers at the head of trade delegations will carry more weight and encourage more UK companies to give a higher priority to expanding business with emerging countries. 

Last week, Mr Cameron headed Britain’s biggest ever business delegation to China and came back with trade and investment deals estimated to be worth close to £6bn. He feels India is one of the countries neglected by UK companies despite deep historical ties. Britain remains the biggest European investor in India. But – with 1,000 companies in Britain, led by Tata, the Jaguar Land Rover parent – Indian investment here is more than in the rest of Europe combined. 

Mr Cable will announce a number of small-scale agreements during his visit and wants to see the UK India Business Council do more to help small to medium-sized enterprises make faster trade progress. 

He will announce a $1m (£612,000) investment in Scotland by Zomato, an online and mobile search business, and congratulate Dynamatics Technologies on winning orders worth $250m for its British plant over the last five years. 

Mr Cable will discuss plans with his Indian counterparts for developing existing partnerships to advance engineering skills and sign a new £180m deal underwritten by UK Export Finance to help Reliance Industries place up to 30 service and equipment contracts with UK companies for its oil refineries. 

Þ Small firms should benefit most from the cut in red tape promised in the global trade deal announced by the World Trade Organisation in Bali. 

The British government hopes the pact will substantially reduce the 40 or so export documents demanded by port authorities, and help expand trade with emerging countries. Mr Cameron believes the deal could be worth more than £1bn to UK businesses and £70bn globally. He said that, if 100,000 small firms started or increased exports, the economy could benefit by £30bn and 100,000 new jobs over five years.