Gujarat woos post-Brexit investments from UK

From Aditi Khanna London, Aug 18 (PTI) Gujarat wants to take the lead inattracting investments from the UK as the post-Brexit scenariounfolds, according to leading bureaucrats and industrialistsfrom the state who visited Britain to promote next year’sVibrant Gujarat Summit. "Gujarat: Connecting India to World" was the slogan for astate government led delegation which made a visit to the UKrecently as part of promotional road-show for Vibrant GujaratSummit scheduled for January 2017. "Our delegation’s objective is to strengthen relationshipbetween UK and India where Gujarat will play an important partand we have had a phenomenal response. Gujarat will assistinvestors in strengthening their business propositions andinvestments in India," said Mamta Verma, Gujarat industriescommissioner, who led the delegation earlier this month. Sunil Parekh, Zydus Group Advisor and a leading member ofthe delegation, said the UK’s vote in favour of leaving theEuropean Union (EU) was at the heart of their visit. He said: "The tone and tenor of the meetings we had in theUK is that people are now looking at the post-Brexit situationfor UK. They want to build aggressive relationships for tradeand investment with non-EU groups and India is one of themajor elements." The aim of the visit was to attract participation in theVibrant Gujarat Summit, held every two years, by highlightingthe state’s investor friendly policies and its No.1 rank interms of ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in 2015 among all states ofIndia in a joint study by the government of India and WorldBank, he said. Manu Srivastava, director, Gujarat Agro InfrastructureMega Food Park, said: "The UK is at a very interestingjuncture in a post-Brexit world. Vibrant Gujarat is one of thelargest forums in India, where businesses from all across theworld come and collaborate. It opens doors to not just Gujaratbut to the whole of India." Besides London, the team also visited Manchester andBirmingham to meet government representatives and businessmen. Some of the focus sectors of the delegation includedchemicals & petrochemicals, electronics, aerospace & defence,renewable energy, technology & start-ups, financial services,pharmaceuticals and textiles. "The UK has good innovation in renewable energy. They alsohave done work in gas based equipment. The UK has goodpenetration of rooftop solar across villages as well. Giventhat we in Gujarat and at Urmi Solar see a lot of opportunityin collaborating with them," said Kiritkumar H Patel, CEO,Urmi Solar Systems Ltd. Vikas Nath, CEO – UK and Europe, Adani Global PTE Ltd,added: "The scope for collaboration is immense, and the timehas never been better for Gujarat to capitalise on businessopportunities from the UK." Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit will enter its 8th editionbetween 10 and 13 January 2017 at Mahatma Mandir inGandhinagar. In the June referendum on EU membership, 52 per cent ofBritons had voted in favour of leaving the EU, leading into acomplex process of withdrawal. However, the timetable for withdrawal has not yet beenannounced. PTI AK SUA AKJSUA