A cabinet minister for whom India is his second home

We welcomed to Mumbai in January the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Dr Vince Cable.

He came with an extensive professional and personal knowledge of India, and indeed affection for the country.   He was happily married for thirty five years, until her death, to a lady whose parents were from Goa, and he is also an avid reader of Indian fiction ( R K Narayan is  one among many favourites) – his suitcase was heavier after quick  purchases at a Mumbai bookshop of the latest novels!  Professionally, as a former Chief Economist for Shell, and a contributor to the Economist Intelligence Unit on India for many years, he has also visited the country on many occasions. With this experience it is safe to conclude that Dr Cable has a greater knowledge of India than most Cabinet Ministers for many years.

This was Dr Cable’s second visit in six months as a Minister;   the first was with the British Prime Minister David Cameron last July. In Mumbai the main focus of his meetings was Indian investment in the UK. Not surprisingly we spent a good deal  of time with the senior leadership of Tata, whose divisions have huge interests in the UK, ranging from tea and hotels, to IT outsourcing, car manufacture, chemicals and steel plants. A roundtable discussion with Tata left no one in any doubt of the Group’s long term commitment to Britain, which accounts for the largest share of their overseas business and over 50,000 employees across the UK.

Dr Cable also called on a major Indian conglomerate, Essar, which listed its energy business on The London Stock Exchange last year. Essar’s listing is now in the  FTSE top fifty, and its senior management team spoke highly of the way in which the LSE and support companies had orchestrated such a highly successful IPO. The company has other interests in the UK, including some steel production, and indicated that it hoped to expand its operations in that and other sectors.

In a  different business, and running one of the world’s largest companies, the Chairman of the State Bank of India, O P Bhatt,  told Dr Cable that he  was pleased that SBI   was now running a sizeable business in London and other key UK cities, catering primarily, but not exclusively, to the Indian business and consumer population.  Mr Bhatt, who had spoken recently to the British Business Group in Mumbai, about long term prospects for India, described the Bank’s earlier Scottish links, and left no doubt why the massive organisation he runs is being featured in a special Discovery Channel programme this year about its outreach in India and beyond. Mr Bhatt launched a preview of the film at his Malabar Hill home – which dates back to the Bank’s founding, British fathers – in January.  The colossal Bank today would be unrecognisable to its Scottish founders.

Before leaving for Delhi, and joining up with the main body of a sizeable business delegation, the Minister also found time to speak to a meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which brought together 150 leading Indian and British businesspeople.  The Minister said that his main agenda was to build up the trade relationship and two-way investment flows.

“We have grasped the necessity to build much closer links with India “ he said “which is why David Cameron was here within ten weeks of assuming the Prime Ministerial office, and why I am following up so soon with a major trade delegation. We may not see overnight headlines, but rest assured that in a great many sectors we will create much more substantial business in the months and years ahead”.

With Dr Cable’s knowledge of India – he described it like a second home – he left no doubt among his numerous business audiences in Mumbai that he is determined to spread the message to British business that this is a  country that, despite the various hurdles,  companies ignore at their peril.