India has emerged the second largest investor in London, with companies like software major Infosys attracted to the city by the investment fervour generated by the 2012 Olympic Games. Software services firm Infosys led the charge of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) by a total of 28 Indian companies, which generated 429 additional jobs for the British economy in 2012 alone, according to latest government figures released London on Friday to mark a year since London hosted the world's biggest sporting events.
"India is a very important market for us and these are fantastic results. The Olympics provided the perfect opportunity for Indians to come and experience London and resulted in more Indian companies setting up here," Gordon Innes, CEO of London and Partners & and the Mayor of London's business and promotional organisation, told PTI.
"I had taken the mayor, Boris Johnson, to India in 2012 where we held some very important discussions at the national and city level. India has seen phenomenal growth and there are a large number of areas of common interest, such as transport and city planning, where we can work together," he said in reference to the future plans of L&P. L&P is a not-for-profit public private partnership set up to unlock London to overseas investment.
India brought in a large chunk of the 2.5 billion-pound additional foreign investment into the UK since the Games and Indian FDI projects in 2012-13 are estimated to generate 24 million pounds in gross value added for London's economy over the next three years. Information and communications technology was the key sector in terms of Indian FDI into London, followed by financial services and retail.
"The fact that the Olympics were held here generated a lot of positive imagery globally. Our clients employ us because we are at the cutting edge of innovation. We need to be talking to the right people and London ~~amp; Partners does a good job at helping us with that," Bangalore-headquartered Infosys said in a statement. In the financial services sector, Axis Bank stood out for setting up its global operations in London as a result of discussions during the mayoral visit to India last November.
Cyril Anand, chief executive of Axis Bank UK said, "London has the right mix of potential wholesale and retail business to make it the ideal location for our first international subsidiary. It provides us with a robust regulatory environment which will allow Axis to build on its strong corporate franchise internationally. We look forward to establishing a significant presence in the city."
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