‘Let’s show booming India that we know our onions!’ Boris Johnson

Two senior figures in British politics were in Mumbai in January – Vince Cable and Boris Johnson.

                        Boris Johnson and Peter Beckingham

Two senior figures in British politics were in Mumbai in January – Vince Cable, Cabinet Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills, and Boris Johnson, The Mayor of London. They don’t on the face of it have much in common and indeed do not know each other personally, but possibly unknown to many, they both share  a deep knowledge and understanding of India.

First to arrive was Boris Johnson, who was primarily in India to celebrate a family wedding – because his wife has Indian relatives. Although he was in Mumbai in the Christmas and New Year break, the Mayor of London (or as he is much more affectionately known, Boris) asked if the High Commission could arrange an occasion for him to meet Indian investors in London.

I didn’t have to be asked twice to have the opportunity to introduce such a well-known figure to some of my business contacts. About forty, including the heads of some of India’s largest companies, came to my apartment to meet the Mayor, tell him about their experiences of doing business in London, and hear Boris Johnson speak passionately about closer links with Indian business.  One investor, the founder and chair of Mastek, Ashank Desai, illustrated perfectly the value of the relationship as the first provider of the software to launch London’s successful congestion charge.  The company now claims a role with a very different sort of traffic movement, with work for the Royal Air Force among its British-linked contracts.

In a short speech the Mayor described some of his responsibilities and new initiatives, including the introduction of more cycling facilities – far more successful, he claimed, than in the capital of France! He said that he hoped to bring a business delegation in due course to Mumbai, and reminded everyone of the Indian contribution – through sculptor Anish Kapoor – to the London Olympics.

The Mayor also told his audience how impressed he was by the changes in Mumbai. “It’s a mind blowing experience to come back to Mumbai after a gap of 12 years, and see the reality of India’s boom.  Of course there is still squalor and poverty of a kind that we find shocking, but everywhere you go in Mumbai you can feel the momentum and excitement that goes with a 9.5 per cent growth per annum. You are full of an intoxicating confidence”

You can read more about Boris Johnson’s visit, and his views about the price of onions in India ( it may have so far escaped your notice that there is an onion crisis in India, but this thing is serious).

More about Vince Cable’s close links to India, and his visit to Mumbai, in my next blog.